


"IT support, how can I help?"

by Aibhilin



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Anxiety Disorder, Anxious Katsuki Yuuri, COVID-19, Corona (Virus), Domestic, Domestic Fluff, End game viktuuri, Friendship, Grief/Mourning, I thought it was a k, IT support, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Not Beta Read, Panic Attacks, Quarantine, University, a dog died in Canon, does it count as fluff?, eh I'll leave the tags for the time being, ice skating mentioned, is it a slow burn if I'm not sure if I want to write more on this?, slow burn?, this happens when I'm in a motivational slump, why is Victor's name written with a c?, zoommates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:47:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 22,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23380093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aibhilin/pseuds/Aibhilin
Summary: When Yuuri agreed to the internship that came with the extacurricular class on e-tutoring he is doing, he didn't count on it being more than that. When COVID-19 hits, however, nothing's set in stone any more. With the ice skating rink off-limits all of a sudden, the only thing Phichit and he are allowed to do is stay inside and help their assigned professors get their lectures up and running online.With Phichit occupied with the more demanding projects, it is up to Yuuri to deal with the speaker from Russia that needs help to get set up in the university's system. Fortunately for him, he and Victor Nikiforov have met on the ice already.
Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov, Phichit Chulanont & Celestino Cialdini, Phichit Chulanont & Katsuki Yuuri
Comments: 52
Kudos: 84





	1. Connection

**Author's Note:**

> Right. So. This fic came to me after reading a comment on tumblr and I'm hoping it'll get me out of this weird motivation slump I've fallen into. Also, I wanted to will the tag "zoommates" into existence.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Setting up. Required information: expositional. First contact is established.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't expect too much, dear readers, I literally wrote this first chapter in AO3 within less than three hours' time and didn't beta read it yet.
> 
> Enjoy!

The class had been fun - all six sessions of it that he'd physically been to so far. Now, however Yuuri wasn't the only one confused as to how the university was handling what had happened. This new virus that everyone talked about had been on both their minds for a few weeks before it had become reality and _something to be dealt with_. These days, the reality was that their uni had closed for the time being, the higher-ups obviously agreeing with the general sentiment that gathering too many people in one space was asking for trouble.

Really, everything had happened far too fast. One day, they were still allowed outside, the next everything was closed but for shops with the necessities and "social distancing" was advised everywhere, with the words "quarantine" and "self-quarantine" following closely behind. He didn't know what to make of it. It was a kind of surreal situation, where he didn't feel as though he was in any real danger himself - younger people, the news said, weren't as affected by the virus and could be expected to bounce back easily should they catch it - but where he was scared and anxious anyways because while he himself mightn't be as much at risk, he could end up putting other people at risk simply by being outside and meeting them.

Thus, he'd decided not to leave their shared flat for the time being. Phichit and he would take turns going shopping and that was that. No personal contact with others - not that Yuuri was a social butterfly at all, it suited him fine like that - and no unnecessary meetups. Phichit had agreed, and proceeded to find lists filled with things that they could do at home. The Thai still had his hamsters to take care of, so his shopping trips involved getting food etc. for them, as well.

Staying in the flat had its upsides.

It was also busier than expected; the internship that he'd gotten into because of that extracurricular class on e-tutoring that Phichit had bullied him into it ( _"You'll need to know about social media, you're already winning medals, Yuuri - it's a **crime** that you haven't yet gotten into this-"_) was apparently not put aside for the time being, no, it was still on-going and he was very much expected to do the things he'd agreed to when he'd signed that contract in the first session of their shared class. Namely had he agreed to help a professor he'd been assigned to in their online endeavours. That had mainly consisted so far of him sending out mass emails to students in the professor's stead, but with the current pandemic upon them, all classes were frozen and every professor was asked to provide online materials for their classes as well as hold lectures that way.

Professors who had already dabbled in online lecturing and embedding internet-related features into their sessions had a clear advantage over others in this case. Unfortunately (for the two ice skating athletes), the professors Phichit and Yuuri had been assigned to had from the start clearly not been noobs when it came to that. So it came that they were reassigned to two professors who did indeed need their help and well, Phichit was right in his element guiding them through it and providing helpful advice and tips, while Yuuri fumbled with the basics and was utterly out of his depth.

It didn't help that the few sessions they had on online tutoring did not include anything handy for the practical application of any knowledge gained within them.

As it was, Phichit had thankfully taken over support for both of the professors (with a look that spelled out _"You owe me!"_ to Yuuri's eyes, loud and clear), while Yuuri took over cooking and their shared household duties for the next week.

* * *

He was cleaning the bathroom, when he could hear a phone vibrating in the living room. Setting aside the sponge and the towel he'd procured for doing this task, Yuuri got up and came to a halt in the open door, where he could see that it apparently hadn't been his phone that had rung but Phichit's. His roommate's answers were monosyllabic, telling Yuuri that the caller had to be Celestino. No one else could reign the otherwise vibrant and loud Thai in on the phone that much. Huffing a little in amusement, Yuuri made to turn around, but before he could Phichit had stretched out a hand towards him, halting him in his tracks.

Intrigued, Yuuri stopped where he was, now starting to really listen in on their conversation.

"Yeah, yeah I know. No, sorry, I'm rather busy, but Yuuri's free currently?" With mounting horror, Yuuri realised he'd just been volunteered for something and he wasn't quite sure if he wanted to be. He began to open his mouth, for a reproach or to make the other boy reconsider offering him up like that he didn't know, but Phichit brushed him off and went right ahead with whatever plan he was brewing in his head, telling Celestino "No, it won't be a bother, I'm sure. After all, it's Nikiforov."

And that right there was what made Yuuri's mind utterly blank out, and had him olding his breath briefly in anticipation of finding out whatever was going on. What was with Victor? Was he ill? Was it Corona? What was wrong? His shoulders rose, anxious thoughts tumbling over themselves, trying to figure out from Phichit's body language and small, brief vocal cues what was happening.

"Yes, I'll inform him. You can count on us, Ciao Ciao! Bye bye!" Phichit held up the hand he'd held out to Yuuri before to stop the Japanese from saying anything before he could properly explain.

Turning to face him, Phichit told him "Yuuri, remember how Ciao Ciao told us at the beginning of last term that he might have a surprise for us but that he couldn't tell us too much about it yet?"

Scrunching up his face, Yuuri thought back to when he might've said something the like. Vaguely, he could remember something like that having been said, but he couldn't remember any specifics. Nodding, he implored the other skater to go on.

"Well, apparently our university managed to invite a guest speaker to accompany a class and hold a speech at the closing ceremony." That wasn't anything out of the ordinary, why did he bring that up now? "It seems they managed to invite Victor Nikiforov to do that this year. And Nikiforov apparently agreed to it."

Wait, what? His breath rushed out of him at that.

Phichit waited for him to gather his thoughts again, before he ventured on, "Well, seeing as Nikiforov wasn't expected to accompany sessions until later in the semester, he's not in the system yet and has to be explained the uni-specific programs etc. I'm quite busy handling both our professors for the time being, but I thought you wouldn't mind taking over explaining things to him and adding him to the class in my place?" The question was posed with a lilt at the end, Phichit's way of saying he could still duck out of this if he wanted to but it was _Victor Nikiforov_ and his heart had already agreed even before he'd fully heard what was demanded of him.

He could kiss Phichit.

His eyes were blown wide and he was sure he'd regret agreeing to this later, in the comfort of his blankets on his bed, when he properly thought about what this position entailed, but right now, all he could do was nod as though his life depended on it.

Heart in his throat, he thought the thing over. He'd have to provide online support for university related class-concerning stuff - all of which he was fairly familiar with, at least on the surface, thanks to the tutoring class - and then do... what, exactly? Yuuri looked at Phichit, tilting his head in askance.

* * *

All too soon he got his answer, in the form of Phichit telling him that a meeting call had been agreed upon later that day. They'd use zoom to video chat with one another and so he could help Victor with any immediate questions that he had as well as to guide him through the university-only channels and set him up with a uni account. What this led up to, in his head, was that he had a meeting with **_Victor Nikiforov_** , the skating legend himself, in less than an hour. By then, he'd showered and pulled out what seemed like half his wardrobe to find anything to wear and was panicking slightly by the time Phichit stuck his head into his room.

Scratch that, he was panicking _a lot_.

Breath coming in sharp gasps, he'd crouched down to the floor because while he'd already skated on the same ice as the Russian legend, he hadn't yet managed to snag a medal and he hadn't been prepared to meet the other this soon and he hadn't had any idea this could be happening and he hadn't pepared himself and oh, he was hyperventilating-

A hand on his back kept him grounded and a voice slowly brought him back from his spiralling thoughts. "In, out. Well, Yuuri, you're doing very well! Again, in, one two three four, out!" Phichit was a godsend, sometimes.

Calming down slightly, Yuuri blinked blearily up at the Thai. "Alright. You alright there? Good." he said, "How about I choose an outfit for you while you get your hair dried?" Yuuri stared at him, bemused. In all the anxious excitement cursing through him, he hadn't even noticed that he hadn't done that yet. Hesitantly, he nodded, making no move to get up from his crouched position on the floor.

"Take your time." Phichit filled the room with chatter about the antics of the professors that he was supporting and oh, had Yuuri looked outside yet? It was raining again, according to his roommate's monologue. Slowly, his frame relaxed as he let the other's voice wash over him. With Phichit's help, it'd be alright.

* * *

Having prepared himself physically if not mentally, he was finally sat in front of his laptop, webcam (borrowed from Phichit because of the better resolution and whatnot - Yuuri had stopped paying attention at the point where the social-media-enthusiast had delved into details) and microphone at the ready and the program they would be using to connect with open and running, with his face staring back at him, wiggling and fidgeting every other second in time with his own nervousness acting out. He'd sent out a link to the email address they'd been provided, so that Victor would only need to click onto it and he'd be connected to him. Yuuri wasn't sure how that worked, exactly, but Phichit had set it up for him and he trusted the other had done everything that needed doing for the time being. Surely, the job he'd agreed to do wouldn't be too bad. Surely, Victor had done this before. Surely, Yuuri could talk to him.

Suddenly, another video opened in front of him and Victor Nikiforov's face stared back at him in all his glory, silver hair short and the spark in the blue eyes stunning even through the crappy video made possibly by the two university students' internet connection. Yuuri's heart skipped a beat.

Victor's face broke out into a heart-shaped smile as soon as he saw the Japanese skater sitting there.

"Yuuri!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just as a small caveat, this is not how real world works in most parts. Yes, guest speakers are invited at unis sometimes and accompany classes sometimes, but in this case I'm taking creative liberty with "the guest speaker you invited now can't get out of this and HAS to do what he agreed to do."  
> Also: I have personally used Zoom all of once so far, and it was for a class where I got sent a link that connected me to the professor who had already set up everything else. I'm hoping that'll work here, as well. (I wanted to use Zoom in this story, because of the zoommates tag, darn it, and I stuck to that, even though I'm way more familiar with Skype, myself)
> 
> On top of that, I'm not an American citizen, so I hope I managed to make it somewhat believeable despite not having ANY idea how classes in the US even work?
> 
> Yes, plot holes exist, most probably. I tried to fill them as well as I could, but some may have slipped my grasp. Please leave a comment should any have come to your attention while reading?


	2. Extrapolation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg I did not - though, in retrospect I really absolutely should have - expect all the feedback to this story! O_o  
> ... I have thus far written in smaller fandoms and it shows... XD  
> Ah well. On with the story! Have fun with this second installment~

The other skater had said his name.

Wait, no.

The ice skating world's living legend had uttered the syllables that constituted his name.

It had to be a dream. A dream he was dreaming and hopefully not waking up from anytime soon. He hoped the wide-eyed look that he kept giving his platinum-haired idol could be blamed on the crappy internet connection. With every minute that passed in silence, the older skater's face sported a more and more pronounced frown. Until he asked, "That's your name, right? Yuuri Katsuki?" which startled him out of his state of shock badly enough that his shoulders visibly rose without his input.

"Uhm, hai. Yes. I'm Katsuki Yuuri." Oh heavens, at least he hadn't managed to butcher _his own name_ while saying it out loud. (It had happened before, _and no, that did not help his nerves at all!_ )

His stomach grumbled as though it had any say in their conversation at all. No, it had not liked the rushed lunch he'd treated it to, but his nerves hadn't let him eat much at all and then it had been time to get ready and then-

"Well. Nice to meet you again." Again? _Again?!?_ Last time they'd met, the living legend had outright seemed not to recognise him, asking "An autograph? Sure!" in that dismissive tone of voice that had sounded far worse in person but which still managed to send Yuuri down a spiral of thoughts he'd rather not visit and now he apparently _knew_ they'd met before? Holy-

Catching himself ( _manners!_ ), shoulders tense, he replied in the most even tone of voice he could muster, "Yes, uhm. Nice to meet you again, too." Yuuri noticed that the smile on the other's man's face widened in response and pointedly did not pay attention to whatever it was doing to him.

The silence that followed lasted all but seven seconds, before Victor asked him, "How have you been? It's quite the situation we're in these days... I hope you're doing alright?"

He- was that open and honest concern he could hear laced into that question? Why would- what? Why would a living legend like Victor... ah, no. Victor was just being a professional and expressing his worries over a fellow skater, that was all. It wasn't anything personal, and Yuuri shouldn't take it to mean that.

"Yes, yes. We're doing okay, thank you. How are you dealing with all of it?" gods, he hoped it came out alright-sounding. Yuuri couldn't remember a lot of moments where he had less of a grasp on his English skills than right then and there. He noticed his slip when Victor's face scrunched up adorably on the tiny screen in front of him and he muttered an almost-silent "We?"

Picking up on the confusion, Yuuri hastened to explain the matter, "Yes, ah. I live together with Phichit Chulanont? Uuuh. He's a fellow figure skater from Thailand?" It came out like a question. On the inside, he despaired of his communication skills. Could they restart the conversation? In his head, it sounded so well and out came _this_...

Victor's face brightened in understanding, "Ah, yes. I remember." _Remember?!?!?_ But before Yuuri could get another word in, the older man sent him another smile, saying "So, you're the IT support Coach Celestino suggested in his email?" _Email?_ Ah. When Yuuri got the email with Victor's address in it, Celestino had most probably also sent Victor one saying Yuuri'd help him. It would make sense, he supposed.

"Errr yes." Inside he prayed that nothing would let him screw this up, even as he felt the switch towards the more familiar albeit still new topic calm him down a little, "You should have gotten an email with your temporary university email address in it today. Did it arrive?"

Yuuri waited as Victor typed something into his computer, frowning a little. After a few more moments, he looked up and pouted, telling him, "No, I didn't get an email from your university today?"

Right. Timezones. Detroit was ahead of St. Petersburg - where Yuuri thought Victor was at the moment, seeing as his flat was located there -, and Yuuri quickly opened a browser to calculate exactly how far ahead they were. "Hang on," he said, deep in concentration, "maybe they sent it out yesterday? Could you check?" Already, he could see the head in the smaller video screen that the program had resorted to when he'd opened the internet browser shaking in a clear no. That was weird, his university's computer support service was usually on point with sending out emails and stuff.

Turning around, he called "Phichit?" and the Thai immediately stuck his head in the door to Yuuri's right. "Apparently, Victor didn't get an email with his uni email address in it. What can we do to help in this case?"

His roommate put his hand to his chin while he thought and Yuuri left him to it, turning back to his computer screen where he could clearly see Victor looking fascinatedly at something on his own screen. He blinked and the scene changed, Victor's smile resurfacing and chasing away any other expression he'd been making.

He cleared his throat, a little uncomfortable now that the "support" he ought to be giving had so clearly been derailed from the script he'd expected. But he didn't want the conversation to just end there, either, so Yuuri rushed to reassure the older skater, "Uhm, I'm sure we'll figure something out soon." Glancing up at Phichit, he frowned a little, when he saw the Thai looking at his monitor instead of being "deep in thought" at what could be done. All of a sudden, Phichit chipped in on the conversation with a "Yeah, I'll go ahead and call our uni's computer support right now - they should be available, it's early afternoon over here. And Yuuri won't mind chatting a little with you while I'm on the phone, right? Right." before enthusiastically heading out the door and closing it with a fading "Later!"

Yuuri's eyes couldn't grow any bigger at what amounted to utter and complete abandonment by his best friend in the face of his idol. Was this his reality now?

"Ah. So it'll take a bit, huh?" These eight words shocked him back into his own body, his neck almost cracking at the speed with which he refocused on the ice skating legend. His heart was still hammering away in his chest and never before had he been glad of the privacy and physical distance video calling allowed him. Victor couldn't hear his heartbeat and, judging by the bad quality of the video, couldn't see anything but his plain face and shoulders. He wouldn't notice the fidgeting leg underneath Yuuri's table.

"Uhm. Yes. It seems." The Japanese couldn't help but reply, never having been one to stand silences for long, although usually not the one who ended them. Manners were safe, though, and it was clear that the question could have been interpreted as either rhetoric or not.

"Well, Yuuri." He sat up straighter at that tone. "What do you like to do?"

...

What?

His confusion had to have showed on his face, because the older man clarified, "With the isolation, I mean. The quarantine. What do you occupy your time with?"

"Ah. Uhm. I like to cook?" All that he could bring himself to do these days, aside from building blanket forts to live in, was housework, but he wasn't about to admit that, not to _Victor Nikiforov_. Yuuri was still at least half-convinced he was in a dream.

"What do you like to cook? What's your favourite meal, by the way?"

Figuring he could answer the first question later, he replied to the second with "Katsudon." At the questioning look that Victor sent his way, he explained, "Uhm. A sort of pork-cutlet-bowl, it's Japanese." Growing more and more confident with the explanation of his favourite meal in the world, Yuuri felt a smile tug on his mouth. He couldn't wait until the quarantine was lifted and the virus defeated and he could visit Japan again. The skater missed his mother's cooking.

"What's in it?" That was everything Victor needed to say to get him going. The situation was surreal. Here he was, discussing _cooking_ and the proper preparation of ingredients for Katsudon with living legend Victor Nikiforov. He had to be dreaming, he had to be.

Victor was easy to talk to and the subjects soon changed to their day-to-day cooking endeavours ( _"Yes, we try to keep it as balanced as possible. Our Coach still keeps us on call and we have to tell him what we eat every day." Celestino was nothing if not determined to keep them competing and even though Yuuri wasn't sure if he was coming back to the sport at all for the next season - he'd bombed the Nationals and every single other competition after the Grand Prix Finals, after all - Phichit still needed to sustain a diet that agreed with his training regimen_ ) and daily training opportunities.

That was most probably why the time passed quickly, as well.

When Phichit finally came back into the room, Victor had just started yawning and Yuuri realised that with the time difference of seven hours between them, it had to be one o'clock am on Victor's side of things. He hadn't noticed the Thai taking his sweet time to come back after the call. Phichit began talking once he was stood in front of the pc, leaning down a bit so that Victor could see him as well as Yuuri.

"I'm sorry, the tech support guys said they'd send out another email tomorrow. They weren't able to get you another one because they were only able to get the one assigned to you. So they'll need to figure out a work-around for the time being and send you the details with another temporary guest email address tomorrow. Would it be alright for you to call again tomorrow so we can confirm it got sent out alright? You can simply call Yuuri again at the same time - or earlier, if nine pm your time doesn't work for you?"

Victor had a contemplative face, before he requested, "Would six or seven pm work for you? That'd be about two or three hours earlier for you, right? It'd be around lunchtime? We could have lunch together and then after that work out the email problem?"

Phichit nodded before Yuuri could get his mouth to work. "It's a date!" he said and headed towards the door with quick and assured steps, waving a hand at Yuuri and throwing a careless "I'm going shopping before the shop closes! See you later, Yuuri!" over his shoulder.

Nonplussed, Yuuri tried to reboot his brain at this latest turn of events, and looked back over at Victor. When they spoke, their words overlapped.

"Goodnight!"

"Goodbye, Yuuri!"

Victor huffed, then he told him with a smile on his face, "Goodnight. See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow." Yuuri said, cut the connection and buried his head in his hands.

* * *

It hadn't been a dream.

It hadn't been a dream and Phichit was the worst best friend in the world.

Yuuri had finally figured out that yes, Phichit had indeed wasted precious _hours_ after he'd called their university's tech support and settled their issue within the span of five minutes surfing the internet just so Yuuri would have time to "bond with his idol".

The Japanese had made his displeasure known by burrowing into his blanket fort nest with a small bowl of chocolate pudding and putting on his favourite anime. He was gonna ignore the Thai who was giggling on the sofa to his left so hard, it was gonna annoy the heck out of Phichit. That was his plan. Yuuri was currently very much proud of said plan, especially since it involved chocolate pudding and anime and the warm comfort of a blanket fort nest surrounding him. Mature or not, he didn't care.

Everyone needed a blanket fort nest every once in a while and after half a day spent talking to his idol in a surprisingly easy-going conversation? He had earned it.

The figure skater pretended to ignore the foot that had lodged itself next to his head in an obvious attempt at poking the annoyance out of him. Phichit's grin could be heard when he said, "Come on, Yuuri! I know you like him! You're his fan!" Nope, he was resolutely ignoring Phichit. The foot poked his head harder.

Fed up with it, he turned, dislodging the annoying limb in the process, and glared at Phichit.

"I'm not gonna take back what I said! He agreed to the date!" the Thai had the audacity to look _smug_. When it was clear that Phichit was going to stand by his words, he relented with a sigh. Really, he should have seen it coming. And it wasn't as though he hadn't enjoyed the ease with which they'd conversed via video call.

"Can you show me what exactly I need to help him with, Phichit?" he requested, peeling himself out of his blanket fort nest. The sooner they cleared up the issue and got the fellow skater into the university's program, the sooner Yuuri could go back to his routine of moping around the flat for virus-related reasons. He pretended he wasn't disappointed at his own train of thoughts. Going through the process of admitting a guest speaker into the system step by step helped calm his nerves some.

And afterwards, they put on _The King and the Skater_ , a favourite of Phichit's and comforting in its familiarity. It was almost as if they were back to their normal way of living.

The video call the next day seemed far away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think?
> 
> What with this story having been a spur-of-the-moment-decision (quite literally because I've been in a bit of a motivational funk lately), I am utterly blown away by the feedback that I'm receiving currently :D
> 
> And on top of that it's currently snowing in my region of the world! =^_^= double yay!
> 
> Again, this is not beta read and was written within the time span of three hours. They're as in-character as I could make them? Hope you liked it! :)


	3. Assistance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri is panicky (what else is new?), Phichit smooths over any bumps in the road and Victor is his charming self.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three. Chapters. In three. Days.  
> Woah, I've never been this productively applied to one project thus far. O_ó Also, the feedback's blowing me away O_O <3 :D Can't wait to hear what you guys think about this next chapter! Enjoy~

They hadn't been clear when they'd agreed on a time. That was what was going through Yuuri's head and made him wake up way too early. Seven am was not his preferred time to jump out of bed, eyes unblinking and open wide in horror and anticipation of what this day would bring. But jump out of his bed, he did. To be fair, there wasn't much else to do, once you knew you wouldn't be going back to sleep and _there was so much to prepare_ -

First of all, he'd need to check what exactly he'd wear. Then he could freak out over the meagre options they had for their lunch and oh, hey, he did not want Victor to see them eat salad of all things and he was sure their kitchen looking like hell would make _such a good impression_ on the one skater who he did not want to find out about their cleaning habits-

Ah, hello, he was hyperventilating while crouching on the floor, again. His heart was trying to beat right out of his ribcage, it felt like. In, one two three four five six seven. Out, one two three four five six seven. In, one two three four five six seven.

Phichit was a gift from heaven, sometimes, in that it was his hand that after what felt like an eternity of counting to seven and alternating between "ins" and "outs" and the respective breaths drew circles on his back and grounded him even further. This time, the Thai skater kept his silence, although it was a comfortable quiet that surrounded them in the early morning hour. His eyes focusing more and more the longer they stayed in this position, with the movement of that one hand the only thing disturbing the peaceful air around them, he finally glanced up at his roommate and took in the worried furrow to his brows.

"I'm fine." Phichit's face turned disapproving fast, "Or at least I will be." He knew how to stave off any deconstruction of his lies and quickly amended his statement. The approval on his roommate's face had him smile back, trying to reassure the other that he would be okay, at least for the moment. "Thanks, Phichit." he said, hoping to convey his gratefulness with his face and these simple words only. Words could never encompass his gratitude for what the Thai did and kept doing for him.

With a smirk, the other skater rose to his feet, flippantly reminding him, "Well, if we want Victor to spend lunch with us, we really should get this cleaned up a bit." his hand gesturing towards their shared kitchen area. To be fair, it wasn't as bad as it had first seemed. It hadn't been a lie when Yuuri had told Victor that he spent a lot of his time cooking - and Yuuri always made sure to clean up after himself, so that the next time he used the kitchen he wouldn't have to first deal with the leftover mess from the previous activity. Nevertheless, there were still a few cups and plates to be put into their cupboard that had been drying on the rack overnight. And Yuuri supposed that wiping off the surfaces just in case Victor paid close attention wouldn't go amiss, either.

Getting to his feet as well, he took over the wiping duty, while Phichit got out bowls for the cereal that they ate for breakfast. They did try to mix and mash all kinds of things just so it wouldn't get overly boring - today, for example, Phichit got out a cutting board and a knife and cut some apple slices into the cereals. Being stuck at home could get boring fast.

By the time they were done with breakfast, a comfortable affair all in all, it was nine am. Yuuri felt the nerves come back to him, looking up at Phichit only to see amusement directed back at him in return. Oh yes, his roommate was hilarious, he had forgotten that little fact. With an eyeroll, he made to wash the dishes and put them on the rack to dry.

The day before, Victor and he had talked about mundane things, for the most part. What kind of food he liked, how it was prepared and compared what their respective diet consisted of during the off-season. When they'd switched to the subject of training these days, Yuuri had stuck to what he knew it would be like for figure skating athletes such as they were (push-ups came to mind, and lots of different types of stretches) - but the truth was that Yuuri himself had rarely if at all managed to bring himself to train these last few weeks, preferring to mope around the flat and do housework and university-related tasks instead. As an unfortunate consequence, he'd accumulated a squishiness that he'd obviously inherited from his parents, most probably from his mother's side.

Now, that hadn't been a problem the day before, when all he'd done was stay seated and let Victor see his profile from the shoulders up. Today, however? They were having a lunch meetup and if he was unfortunate, it'd start at eleven am - he'd done the math, six pm for Victor meant eleven am on their side of things - and they'd only be starting to prepare lunch by then. Meaning he'd be walking around and most likely Victor would see more of him than he had the day before. And he was most uncomfortably aware of his own chubbiness, having been bullied for that often enough growing up.

Going to his room and getting out a similar ensemble as to what Phichit had chosen for him last time, he went to the bathroom to get ready. Looking into the mirror wouldn't do him any good, he knew, so he made sure to take off his glasses before giving in and peeking at himself. A wobbly blob blinked back at him. Snorting a little, he slipped his clothes on, wanting nothing than for today's "lunch meetup" to be over with already.

When he was ready and had gone through their living room slash kitchen area armed with a broom and a dustpan, it was barely ten o'clock. Oh great, he still had an hour for worst-case scenarios to crop up. Switching out the items in his hands for a lightly wetted sponge and a kitchen towel, he proceeded to frantically wipe down any surfaces he could reach, employing a chair to get at those he couldn't. Phichit had wisely chosen to leave him to his cleaning spree and gone to his room to feed his hamsters and check his emails.

Going about the mostly mindless tasks in the quiet of their flat, he felt his mind wander. What would they talk about during the video call? They'd exhausted all the most interesting topics already, hadn't they? And the only other topic he could think about was the issue of his email and getting him into the system. That would probably take all of half an hour to solve. What then? Would they awkwardly say goodbye after that and that would be it? Finding himself missing the contact they'd established all of once and even before they'd had their second conversation, Yuuri fumbled for ways to keep the conversation open and going. In his mind's eye, once Victor was all set up, he wouldn't need to call Yuuri again, would he? That was all he'd needed and then... and then...

Stopping in mid-wipe, leaning over the kitchen counter, Yuuri found that he didn't mind talking to his idol as much as he'd thought he would. It had been easy to keep the conversation going the day before, hadn't it? And when Yuuri hadn't known what to say, Victor had jumped in with another question of his. Scrunching up his face, the figure skater shook his head. No, he couldn't expect Victor to keep calling after they'd helped him and he should simply do his best to do so in the first place.

Steeling his resolve, he finished wiping the kitchen counter down and put away the cleaning supplies. Then he went to get the laptop and Phichit's webcam and mic from his room. It was time to get ready for the call.

* * *

"Yuuri!" the heart-shaped smile accompanying the word made his heart flutter for all but a second, until Phichit responded to the greeting with "Phichit!", effectively ruining the moment. Letting his head fall in exasperation, Yuuri refused to rise to the bait ( _No, he was NOT calling out "Victor!" just to make this round of greetings appear complete, no matter how much Phichit poked his foot underneath the table_ ).

Still with a shit-eating grin on his face, Phichit enquired, "So you got the email, I take it?" Victor almost looking apologetic as he confirmed its arrival with a quick nod did not make it to the top of the list of things he'd expected to happen that day, but then again, so hadn't him waking up early, Yuuri supposed. With a small sigh, he let it slide and looked into the distance to properly mourn the loss of more sleep. Again.

"Great!" Phichit kept the conversation going, while Yuuri shook himself out of his spunk. He felt his heart rate going up looking into the smiling face of his figure skating idol, but before he could put his foot in his mouth, Phichit took the laptop from the table in front of him and put it on the kitchen counter, from where Victor would be able to see all of their flat, and clearly at that. Yuuri's eyes widened and he struggled to turn his head this way and that, trying to figure out if anything looked out of place. Grimacing, he remarked, to himself and in his mind only, that it probably looked like a rather run-down students' flat to Victor's eyes, the shelf to the left stuffed with produce and garlic hanging from it, the shelf on the right filled with books.

While Yuuri wasn't sure just how much of the flat was in the picture right at that moment, he knew in his heart that the mismatched curtains would draw attention for sure, if he didn't do anything to keep Victor's eyes off of them. Turning back around to the laptop, he realised belatedly that Phichit had kept up a stream of words to their guest, while he stood to the side, preparing some potatoes to be added to their salad and leaving Victor looking out at their flat - and at Yuuri. Who had been caught not paying any attention to anything that's been said at all.

"... and you know, the yoghurt sauce with the basilikum in it really adds flavour to the salad." Phichit finished explaining.

"Ah, yeah, I get that." Victor's eyes had been locked on his laptop's screen, which he was concentrating on with an extreme kind of focus that Yuuri had thus far only seen him project while skating on the ice. He was wondering what was going through the figure skater's head, figuring he was judging their appartment more than anything else. But he hadn't grimaced yet, so he counted it as a win.

"Yuuri!" being called out by his idol, he sat up straighter, leaning towards the screen a bit in anticipation. "You did talk about how you liked potatoes, but did you try making hot potatoes with yoghurt sauce and herbs?"

Eyes widening, Yuuri shook his head, although he could already imagine the taste that combination would result in. His mouth watered at the mental picture. Glancing at Phichit, he could see that the Thai was seriously considering trying that for either dinner or next day's lunch. Fortunately, their salad was quickly prepared and they tucked into their meal with vigor. Victor, meanwhile, was briefly away from the keyboard as he went to get himself something from his kitchen, presumably.

They saw something move in the background but dismissed it and didn't look too closely. If Victor wanted them to see, he would show them. Once he sat back down again, he had a meal prepped and eating utensils at the ready. Tucking in, he threw out another cooking related suggestion, which Phichit and Yuuri answered with variations of their own ideas.

The lunch date passed by in much the same vein, them throwing suggestions back and forth, some noted down for future experiments, others dismissed outright. Yuuri drew the line when Phichit suggested hazelnut cream and bacon. That couldn't possibly taste good. Going by Victor's face, he thought the other skater agreed with his feelings on that. They put away their plates and things, before Yuuri took the laptop from the kitchen counter, bidding Phichit goodbye and holding the screen up so that Victor could say goodbye as well, and put him down on the table in front of him.

Phichit gave him an exaggerated eye roll and a suggestive wink, although he returned to his room without saying anything incriminating that Victor could pick up on. He was his best friend and the worst best friend ever for setting him up to help Victor I-am-figure-skating-legend Nikiforov in the first place, but he knew when to keep his mouth shut and that was at least a small blessing in itself.

"So you did get the email." The platinum-haired man nodded in response, picking up on the change to business matters immediately. "The first part of the email address - the part before the @ is doubling as your username. Underneath it, there should be a scrambling of letters and numbers - that's gonna be your password for the learn management system of the university." He then rattled off the website where Victor could find it and hopefully log in alright. Yuuri was so glad he'd asked Phichit to walk him through this the evening before - he was sure he'd be much, much more nervous about doing this if he hadn't. Patiently, he waited a few minutes to make sure Victor got there alright.

"Try to log in? See if you can get in alright?" he prompted Victor. A weight fell from his shoulders when the other affirmed that everything appeared to work for him.

"That's... good. That's good." It wasn't. No, it definitely wasn't, because now he wouldn't need Yuuri any more and they were done and within just a few seconds of conversation they'd reached the goal they should have reached the day before - have Victor Nikiforov access their system - and it had gone off without a hitch.

Fumbling for something else to say while Victor obviously looked at all the stuff he'd been added to - classes and their contents and whatnot -, he fidgeted in his seat.

Distractedly, the Russian told him, "Yeah. Thank you. I can definitely get into the uhm. What did you call it again?" - "Lern management system." the answer came promptly, mostly because Yuuri had heard it so often in that e-tutoring class of his. "Yeah, that. Thank you very much for helping me with this." He looked into the camera briefly, a soft smile accompanying the action, before turning back to his screen with a slight frown.

"Erm. It's probably better if you go through the contents in your own time. Uhm. If you need any more help, let me know?" Yuuri almost blurted out that Victor could call him any time but that was too forward of him, wasn't it? Was it okay, in their situation, to tell the other skater that? "You can send me an email any time." he settled for, instead, almost disappointed with himself.

Another smile, warm and bright and making his heart do a little flip, "Yes, I'll do that. Thank you, Yuuri!" Was it allowed, the way that the syllables of his name rolled across that tongue? Victor appeared apologetic as he added, "Alright, I think I'll go through those things now - I have to get up earlier tomorrow than I did today, so I'm sorry if I have to cut our call short this time..."

Yuuri hastened to reassure him, eyes slightly averted, "No, no! It's alright! Yeah, you have obligations, too, so I'll leave you to it. Erm. Thanks for the lunch?"

A heart-shaped smile greeted his eyes when he looked back at the screen, "It was a pleasure! Anytime again!" It turned warm and meaningful, although what meaning it conveyed, Yuuri wasn't sure, when Victor added, "Goodbye. See you next time, Yuuri!"

"Er. Right. See you next time." His responding farewell mightn't have been as enthusiastic as the figure skating legend's but it was just as freely given.

When the connection cut off, he was sat staring at the unmoving screen of his laptop for a long time after, mulling over the words.

See you next time?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, it's not been beta read more than twice since its creation and I hope it came out sounding alright XD  
> Can't believe that I keep churning out more and more words in the three hours I alot to this madness.  
> Also, the research that went into this, guys... *googling time zones, katsudon recipees etc.*  
> Leave a comment if you like? :)


	4. Support

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phichit didn't spend years listening to Yuuri wax poetic about Victor Nikiforov only to have Yuuri clam up about it now. He wanted front row seats, dammit!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, dear gents ladies & people - I'm blown away by the feedback. 39 kudos in what, 5 days? Woah. =^_^= happy authoress is happy! :D  
> Have fun reading~

The gloomy atmosphere that surrounded Yuuri in the evening and lasted all of the next day didn't let up a bit, not even at Phichit's attempt at cheering him up with his hamsters. Seriously, the tiny monsters were doing their best at getting him to smile, the one Phichit had christened Roberto especially tenacious in its endeavour of climbing all over him and his blanket cocoon (" _But Yuuri! If we take real names for our pets, then we can say 'Oh dear, Roberto is stuck in the sofa again!' and I for one am incredibly curious to see how long it'll take for anyone to notice we're talking about pets and not real people!_ ").

Sighing, he carefully cupped the tiny hamster in his hand - it had gotten one of its paws stuck in a loosened corner of the woolly blanket and was struggling to get loose again - and got up to put it into its cage with the others. Roberto really was one of the easier ones to handle, being a curious little blighter but definitely scared enough not to go jumping down from high heights or liable to get lost anywhere they couldn't find him again.

Closing the cage door that was located on the upside of the cage so none of the other hamsters could escape when he carefully put the one he had in his hand down into it, he moved back over to the blanket pile he'd vacated. The process of getting back into the exact position he'd occupied before was a long one and took several minutes until he gave up on it and simply got comfortable where he was.

His first step after that was to check his emails, instagram and his mobile. Not in that order.

Still, when he saw that there were no notable news from any of the skaters that he was following and no new emails to speak of (the one telling him about an issue fix update for the learn management system that the university would be doing the upcoming weekend didn't count), he sighed once more.

Victor hadn't reached out to him again, since that ominous goodbye.

Biting his lip, he considered it. No matter from what angle he looked at it, he was sure that the other skater had meant more with it. Hadn't he? Didn't "See you next time" imply they'd keep in contact?

Yuuri having more free days than busy ones nowadays did not help matters any - he was free to ruminate and marinate in the thoughts that were going through his head 24/7 now. The e-tutoring class was scheduled to have another meeting from nine am till about lunchtime the next day, but other than that he was simply expected to finish his thesis on time ("on time" meaning by the end of term, meaning a deadline that was quite a few months away and did nothing to boost his writing morale) and do the last exam he needed to do as soon as the quarantine lifted and that would be that.

The door clicked, letting in his roommate, their groceries and some stale air from the hallway leading up to their appartment. Upon discovering that Yuuri ostensibly hadn't moved an inch since he'd left the building, Phichit's lips pursed, but he didn't comment. Instead, he put the sack with the groceries onto their kitchen counter without a word and moved to put away the milk and perishables first.

Next, he looked over at the middle of their shared living room slash kitchenette, where Yuuri had made himself at home, surrounded by blankets, cushions and comfort. His eyebrow rose in barely-hidden amusement, unnoticed by Yuuri. What the Japanese could hear, however, was the smile in his voice when he said, "Yuuuuri, where's Roberto?"

Yuury nudged his head in the direction of the cage. It had been a ploy by Phichit, originally. He'd seen Yuuri in his blanket cocoon, put Roberto on him to keep him company and left to go shopping. They did that a lot, these days, ever since Yuuri couldn't bring himself out of his funk to be more actively involved in his own life.

That was the main problem he was fighting, currently.

The daily feeling of an extraordinary and inexplicable weight having attached itself to his limbs and body and dragging him down under from where he would not be able to do much. Next came the feeling of not being productive and that unfailingly ended up with him feeling sorry for Phichit and feeling sorry for himself for being such a burden to everyone. The next step would be him growing anxious because he wasn't doing enough, he wouldn't be able to finish uni on time, wouldn't be good enough to skate again at all next season and why was he even doing anything in the first place? He wouldn't be doing it right, anyways. Then, the weights seemed to grow in size and oh, there was that devil's circle he'd entered when he'd bombed the GPF last season.

Fortunately, he couldn't stay moping around on the floor all the time, or it might've gone on for longer than half a day.

That was what the scheduled online class the next day was for, in his case: it was his weekly motivation to get up and at least dressed for the day. If he was mentally absent, it wouldn't matter much, Phichit was in the same class, after all, logging into the virtual classroom from his own pc in his room while Yuuri accessed it from his laptop in his. But he got up, made himself presentable (" _Shut up, Phichit, I'm dressing up for this_.") - even if they only conversed via the mic, it was the thought that counted and he did feel it showed respect when talking to his peers and the professor in the online classroom while dressed like he would when they held it in a real classroom.

He was up and he was ready, so he counted it as a win.

The tasks the professor handed out for them to do were easily solvable, a few clicks here, a few buttons pressed there and even he, a noob in all things computer-related, could participate and get things done quickly. So quickly, in fact, that he didn't mind Phichit's constant texts via mobile and the distraction they provided while the others tried to fight off technical disturbances in the background.

"Wht u in th mood fr 4 lunch?" he read. Considering their food resources for but a moment, he quickly typed, "Spaghetti?" before a louder and very noticeable "Alright" from their professor made him look up at the screen and pay attention, once more.

Time passed quickly and faster than he could blink, it was noon. Today's session had taken longer than expected and their stomachs were growling already.

* * *

After both their appetites were sated, they sat around the table in a comfortable, peaceful quiet, only broken sometimes by the pitter-patter of Phichit's fingers typing something or the other into his mobile. Yuuri was nursing a cup of tea, blissfully content for the moment, and Phichit had his own placed on the table in front of him. It was steaming slightly, still. All in all, it was as though a temporary bubble had formed around them, blanketing them in peace and comfort, shielding them from anything and everything else in the world. That was one of the reasons he really liked the Thai. Moments such as these could be found around him and they never failed to put Yuuri at ease.

He was the best friend Yuuri could have asked for and whatever Yuuri was doing to deserve him, he was resolved to do more of that.

"Sooooo. Victor. Spill!"

In his head, Yuuri fondly and immediately retracted his words - Phichit was the worst best friend he could have asked for and dear god, please make him stop. Feeling his heartbeat speed up a little at the question, Yuuri looked at the kitchen counter to his right, at the shelves to his left and at the doors that led to their respective rooms. Anywhere but into Phichit's gleefully smiling face. He didn't know what the Thai meant. There wasn't anyth-

"And if you say there's nothing _to_ spill, I'll have you know I am _well aware_ that you still have that poster of Victor's hung up above your bed. Last year, his name was mentioned on a daily basis and while I can believe that you two didn't talk at the GPF, that wasn't the case yesterday. Or the day before. Now spill!" The expectant face really should have had a warning attached, the likes of " _Do not look into this face, it will make you speak about your darkest secrets._ " Puppy eyes were entirely unnecessary, when Phichit could look so very trustworthy and open and curious all by himself.

Faltering at the sight, Yuuri caved. "There wasn't much... Victor just needed to be settled in, as you know." _As you well know_ he'd have liked to say, but then again, he still was grateful to the other skater for volunteering him for that, even if it had sounded unfairly overwhelming at first glance. ( _He'd talked to Victor Nikiforov! For hours! Because of this!_ )

At the encouraging look sent his way, prompting him to talk more, Yuuri felt himself relax a bit. Phichit was still his friend. He wouldn't judge him for talking about cooking and everyday things with Victor.

"We spoke about katsudon and-" Phichit's snort interrupted him. At his betrayed face, the Thai couldn't help himself and doubled over laughing. Honestly, it hadn't been that funny. Had it?

Between laughs, the skater managed to ask, "Oh, only about pfrrr your favourite dish?" Okay, alright. So cooking had been one of the most-discussed topics between the two roommates after Victor in the past few months. And it had featured katsudon on more than one occasion, yeah. So what? The pout overtaking his features only served to make the Thai laugh harder.

Seeing the entertainment in the choice of subjects to talk about, Yuuri let the smile on his face grow a little. Hey, he'd needed "safe" topics to talk about and if he'd pounced on the other subject that was close to his heart (the first being Victor Nikiforov, always the legendary figure skater himself), because he'd felt alright talking about it, then where was the harm? Ah, well. Phichit always had been able to see the entertaining side of things first.

Letting the other finish his laughing fit, he took another gulp from the tea. This action never failed to settle his nerves.

Any thoughts of Phichit not judging him on his topic of choice were out the window, now. Oh, he was judging him so badly already, simply by laughing. In exasperation Yuuri sighed. Really, he should have expected that. With a raised eyebrow, he wondered if Phichit was done laughing yet. Frankly, the good mood from his laughter was contagious and soon Yuuri found himself smiling more.

It probably hadn't helped that the most-discussed topic the day before at their "lunch date" had been food, as well.

Once Phichit had settled down into his chair a bit, comfortably pulling up his two feet to sit cross-legged on the chair, he explained further, this time without prompting, "Well. What else is there to talk about?" At Phichit's look, Yuuri hurried to go on, "Well, apart from _that_." No, he wasn't going to bring up the pandemic and its related consequences. They had had enough of that already and made a point not to switch on the news except for the most important parts that they shouldn't miss at any cost.

What good was reading the news when ninety-nine point nine per cent of it consisted of the pandemic and no new information on when it might end? Hope was rare to come by as it was, no need to destroy it on a daily basis. Yuuri should know, he held every single shred of hope for a time where life'll go better for him close to his heart.

His mood turning morose again, Phichit scrambled for anything else to ask, "Well, what did he say? Did you find out what _his_ favourite meal was?" Cue entirely unnecessary eye waggle.

Floundering for a bit, Yuuri hesitantly replied, "Errr... no?" A glance towards Phichit told him the other was ready to protest his actions and he quickly cut him off, "We did talk about training methods and home workouts, too!"

The look from his roommate sealed his fate - a raised eyebrow telling him he _knew_ Yuuri hadn't worked out in a while. Oh, he'd definitely be roped into working out with him again, no excuses were accepted as valid any more. The look the Thai gave him amounted to " _And this time you'll like it, because it's **for Victor**_ _!_ " and Yuuri's shoulders slumped in defeat. "I'll be doing situps and stretches at three pm, Yuuri." was all Phichit told him. Basically, in Yuuri's eyes, at least, it was an order. At least it suggested he'd have something to talk about with the legendary figure skater _next time_ they talked.

Shifting his eyes to the side, Yuuri almost murmured, "That's everything we talked about, though."

"That's all you're gonna tell me for now, huh?" his roommate sighed, but acquiesced to give him space, "Alright. I'm gonna write some more emails. See you later, Yuuri." taking his cup of tea with him, he passed through the door to his room and closed it behind him.

Phichit's unsubtly strong suggestion to join him meant he had about an hour to spend moping in his own room before the Thai would come in and drag him to the workout session. Yuuri found he was surprisingly okay with joining the Thai. If it meant he had something new to talk about with Victor... whenever he got in contact with the Russian again, that was. One could still hope, and there were lots of things that could go wrong when dealing with online stuff, as Yuuri could attest to personally, ever since he'd signed up for that e-tutoring class.

Flipping open his laptop, he waited for it to boot up. A tad absent-mindedly, he checked his phone. No new messages. Drawing up a window to the interwebs, Yuuri first went to the email program. He was curious to see if the cascade of emails had receded a bit. They'd been swamped with emails at the beginning of the quarantine, but two weeks in it should have stopped slightly. If it hadn't, Yuuri didn't know what he'd do. Possibly go wail to Phichit, again. He'd done that at the start of it, embarassed as he was to admit it.

Figuring he ought to stay hydrated, he got up to grab himself another cup of tea from the kitchenette. Upon returning, he settled down at his laptop - on which the email program had finally managed to bring up his inbox and showed him his latest unread emails - and froze.

His eyes grew wide and his heart sped up. For in front of him, sitting innocently and marked as "unread" in its fat script was an email he hadn't expected. Shoulders tense, breath rushing in and out of him in a controlled pattern, he opened the email and quickly read it through once. Then he read it through a second time, albeit slower.

"Hello,

I'm having trouble with the email program... and some other things have come up, so I was wondering if you'd be available for another call sometime soon?

Victor Nikiforov."

Victor had written him an email. Victor Nikiforov had written him an email asking for his help. Victor figure skating legend Nikiforov had written him an email asking if they could talk - and via video call, if he was interpreting what he'd sent him correctly, at that.

He had to tell Phichit. Mechanically, Yuuri got up from the chair, glancing away for but a moment, before he decided differently and grabbed the laptop, pulling out the plug and any attached cables from the mic that were still in his room, and bringing it with him, all the while staring fixedly at the email, as though it could disappear in a moment of inattention. The figure skater only just paid enough attention to his surroundings so he wouldn't run into stuff in his distraction, but other than that he made a beeline to Phichit's room and knocked on the door.

When Phichit told him to enter it, he still couldn't pry his eyes away from the email that had Victor's name as a signature. Not risking to sit down on one of the hamsters that were roaming the bed, he stopped in the middle of the room and blurted out, "Victor wants to call me again!" staring imploringly at Phichit, as if he knew and could tell him what he should do in response.

A few seconds passed in silence, then Phichit said, "Oookay. So he wants to call you again. That's good, right?" Well, he wasn't wrong with that assumption, he had to give him that.

"But Phichit, I don't- I'm not-!" When it was clear that Yuuri couldn't quite articulate just what he thought he was lacking ( _the computer skills needed to help his idol out, for starters_ ), Phichit made an educated guess and offered, "If it makes you feel better, I can sit in on the call at the beginning? And if it's something you can do, I can leave you two alone and do my stuff?" Another eyebrow wiggle accompanied the sentence, suggesting far more than Yuuri could at this point in time probably stomach doing with his idol.

When he only nodded tersely, still high-strung from the unexpected arrival of the email - _and who had ever been this nervous and jittery over an email in human history, oh he was a mess, wasn't he?_ -, Phichit sat him down beside him on a chair and walked him through composing an appropriate answer to the message, citing that he would be free this afternoon at three pm, and asking if the older skater was available then. They gave him an alternative earlier time slot for the next day and ended the email like Victor had - with Yuuri's full name in the Western order at the bottom, after a brief mock-fight over what would be the better sequence, Yuuri Katsuki or Katsuki Yuuri.

Yuuri wasn't sure what he'd wear for the call that was fast approaching, should Victor decide to talk to him the very same day. The athlete didn't know where they'd hold it this time, either. And he wasn't even sure what Victor would need him for in the first place.

The only thing that he was certain about was that in his nervous state the promised workout with Phichit would absolutely have to be delayed to another date and time.

He couldn't bring himself to be mad about that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No hamsters have been hurt in the creation of this chapter. *g*
> 
> Roberto was one of the first names that came to me when I thought of naming a pet yesterday and so here we are.
> 
> As I said before, this story's growing on me. I mean that literally. This chapter's got more words to it than the last as does the last to the one before. This means that, while updates will continue to come, they will be posted irregularly from now on.  
> Sustaining the "daily updates" was feasible with 1k words, and maybe even with 1k words plus, but now, with the chapters insisting on being way over that? Sorry, dear readers... then again, more stuff to read whenever it DOES come out of hiding... :D
> 
> If you're in the mood for it, a comment is always appreciated, dearest readers~


	5. Access

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the calls from Victor becoming somewhat of a used-to thing happening (albeit an unexpected one whenever they appear in his life), Yuuri has time to return to coping with last season's GPF and its side-effects, some of which are entirely unrelated to figure skating in general, except for that they still affect him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was... not as easy for me to write, for reasons that'll probably become obvious when you're reading through it, dear readers.  
> My characters decided they had issues that needed to be dealt with first, for the story to be allowed to move on. So here we are.
> 
> Enjoy~!

"OK." was all that he got back in response. No "Victor Nikiforov" at the end, no "Hello" at the start. He didn't know what he was supposed to feel, in light of that.

"OK." and what, he suddenly ought to somehow be okay with talking to Victor Nikiforov again? The prospect of a call with his idol on such short notice didn't do his nerves any good, that was for sure. Going through the "preparation" for it, he mechanically washed his face, trying to smile at himself in the mirror for good measure. That was supposed to boost a person's mood, wasn't it? Smile quickly falling, it did nothing for him, he thought.

"OK." implied that the call at three pm was alright for the silver-haired legend. It included the assumption that he'd be online and had the program running by then, so that all Victor would have to do was click onto the link he'd been provided with and they'd be connected. That was his crush who relied on him to start their call and would undoubtedly believe that Yuuri would be able to help him, nevermind that he had no idea that the Japanese had been to all of two handfuls of sessions in his e-tutoring class until then.

Barring any obstacles that cropped up at the last minute, the connection would be established without a hitch, too.

Fidgeting in place, he scrutinized his chosen attire closely, looking for anything out of place. The choice of the day was a simple, dark blue long-sleeved shirt, with two thin streaks of a lighter blue running down on one side and blue jeans. It didn't look too unprofessional. And they'd shared a meal already, so it wouldn't look out of place. The clothing choice was formal enough, considering the circumstances.

In their shared sport, Victor had been the one with the longer streak of experience, the one who'd been going at it for more years than Yuuri could remember being interested in the sport. And now, Yuuri was the one who had more knowledge about what to do concerning the current problems. In a twisted sense of irony, their roles had been reversed, somehow.

Victor's routines had inspired Yuuri ever since he'd first seen the older skater on TV way back when. They were a gift, he felt, because they'd always motivated him to do more, to apply himself more, to go further than he'd gone before.

And then last season's GPF had happened and he'd failed. Yuuri had failed at the grandest figure skating event he'd aspired to be at so far, had given half-hearted performances and had fallen down to the lowest level he'd ever been. He'd even failed to make Victor recognise him, back at the stadium.

With a pang, he remembered how the platinum-haired skater had so flippantly asked him if he wanted an autograph upon noticing him stare in his direction. That still smarted, even months after the event. Especially considering that Vicchan...

Forcefully, and with a lump in his throat he redirected his thoughts to happier topics. Yuuri couldn't let himself fall into the hole of thinking about his dog again, because if he started doing that now, then he was liable to start crying and would be a mess for the call with Victor and would be a mess for the rest of the day and the end of the week and it'd probably bleed into next week, as well. Phichit wouldn't like being on the receiving end of his grief, again.

With this thought in mind, Yuuri breathed in deeply and went back into their shared living room. The Japanese thought he ought to get the equipment and call Victor from here, rather than from his room. At least like this, Phichit wouldn't be far away, should his earlier thoughts come back and distract him from the talk. His roommate had a knack of knowing when to chip in so that Yuuri's spacing out wouldn't be as obvious and noticeable to other people - and had proven it time and again in classes they shared.

He clearly needed the other's support and physical presence, this time, and with more than the computer assistance he'd be giving Victor.

* * *

When the time came for him to log onto the program, he hesitated only briefly before pressing the button to go online.

Phichit had created a bit of a workout space for himself on the other side of the room, where Yuuri had claimed a spot for himself and his blanket nest the day before, and was busy warming up for it. The Thai was committed to doing his daily workout, no matter what, and he'd cheerily informed Yuuri that this way he could help out immediately should the Japanese not know how to go on to help Victor with whatever problems he had.

Obviously, Phichit thought that Yuuri could handle it fine by himself, with no input from him, when he'd come out of his room with the yoga mat in hands - he'd picked up on Yuuri's mood, though, and was prepared to provide a pillar that Yuuri could lean on should he need it. His presence was reassuring, a comfort for him, and he basked in the care that was bestowed on him by the Thai.

Both being figure skaters by trade, they knew how much of an impact one's emotions could have on one's behaviours. His crush on Victor notwithstanding, he was dealing with more than that at any given time these days, and it showed.

Less than it had when he'd been in line to perform along with all the other figure skaters that had made the cut for the GPF, yet rare was it that he had the death of his beloved dog not go through his head at least once a day.

He hadn't been there. In fact, he hadn't been home in the past five years and to be honest, he was quite tired of Detroit by now.

All that was well-known to both Phichit and Cialdini, naturally, however it still didn't change the situation they found themselves in and he wouldn't be able to visit home before the quarantine lifted anyways. Better make the best of it and finish his degree, as well, while he was at it.

The beep of an incoming request alerted him to the fact that Victor had apparently clicked on the link he'd gotten. Phichit was doing warm-up stretches in the background and he pressed the button to accept the video call.

Victor's face was the first thing he noticed, the colours of his clothes muted, as they'd been the last few times. The figure-skating legend liked wearing black shirts, didn't he?

"Hello!" he said, waving a little bit and putting a smile on his face.

"Hi~!" the heart-shaped smile was back.

In light of what he felt was an over-the-top greeting, he didn't immediately know how to go on and hesitated in his chair, drawing in on himself a little bit. Phichit's clothes moving in tandem to his stretching was for the blink of an eye the only sound that filled the room.

Then, Victor brought a finger up to his lips, smile still present, and, looking a tiny bit apologetic, said, "I'm sorry to be bothering you with this again - I can't seem to make the email program work in the ways I need it to..."

Fortunately, it snapped Yuuri out of whatever daze he'd fallen into and he answered, "No, it's no bother at all! No trouble at all!" Relaxing in the face of what had by then become an increasingly familiar topic of conversation, he went on to say, "That's what I'm here for, anyways. To help you with internet troubles." Oh, he hoped that had been the right word combination to use... but if the Russian had found anything odd in his choice of words, he didn't say.

Instead, Victor came to the point quickly, telling Yuuri, "The thing I'm having trouble with is sending an attachment in an email."

Upon hearing that, Yuuri's shoulders relaxed. The Japanese knew how to deal with that. Phichit's stretching started up again, this time in earnest, as he lost himself into the workout's movements on their living room floor. He'd paused briefly to paid attention to what exactly the troubles consisted of, but he knew where the limits to Yuuri's knowledge about computers were - probably better than the Japanese knew them himself by now - and what he could reliably help with on any given day without needing Phichit's input.

In the email, Victor had alluded to something more than the simple matter of an email attachment not working, so Yuuri was sure that Phichit would listen in on their conversation with one ear until Victor had explained what else he needed their assistance with.

"That's actually a problem that a lot of the uni's students and professors have and keep having. I can help you with that right now, if you'd like?" Seeing the answering nod, he continued, "Do you have the email program open in front of you?"

The black-haired figure skater waited for a moment and when it seemed as though Victor had it ready and open in front of him, looking attentively (and rather distractingly) at the camera again, he rushed to explain, ducking his head a little bit so as not to make it obvious he'd been staring at the other, "Well, if you create a new email, it says attachments at the bottom, right?"

"Yes, and I've already put in a document from my computer where it says I ought to. But it wouldn't let me send it with the attachment." Victor smoothly jumped in to say.

Nodding, Yuuri elaborated, "Yes, that's because it's not uploaded to the email program if you put it into the box. Once you put it into the box, you'll need to push the button that's on the lower left hand corner, the one that says 'refresh'." Patiently, he waited for the other to do that. "You can send the email to my email address to check if it works now, if you'd like?" The Russian nodded and concentrated on sending it to him.

While they waited, Yuuri wasn't certain if he should say anything to keep the conversation going or simply let the silence permeate the atmosphere. Frankly, he wasn't in the mood for a lot of conversation, really, not when his mood had taken such an unexpected nosedive in the bathroom earlier. Victor seemed to sense something in the air and made no move to say any more.

After receiving an email with an attachment, as promised, he nodded to Victor and let him know, "The email just came in, and the attachment too."

"Ah, thank you for the help!" The relief was evident in Victor's voice.

However, now Yuuri was curious. "What else did you need help with?"

"Ah, uhm." Victor was being unusually bashful and glancing away and back at the screen in what became apparent fast as embarassment, making the meter on Yuuri's internal suspicions revolving around online-help-related issues rise in response, "I was wondering if you could help me with the online class?"

When Yuuri frowned in confusion, Victor hastened to reassure him, "I don't- it's not a big problem if you can't, if you don't have the time, that's totally fine, but... uhm. I did have a look through the class and its... structure? The way it's structured online is kind of confusing to me?"

"It's just that I don't exactly have an idea on how to navigate through the class contents and where I'm supposed to put the things I've prepared for the professor..." The platinum-haired man briefly looked away from the monitor again, obviously uncomfortable about not having been able to find everything he needed on his own. Making eye-contact with Yuuri once more, he went on, "If you're too busy, I'm sure I can arrange something with the professor, or someone else..." He let the sentence peter out, having noticed that Yuuri had closed his eyes and was shaking his head in response.

"No, no, it's fine. I can guide you through it." With his eyes closed, Yuuri didn't notice Victor's utterly dejected look turn into one of gleeful excitement in a heartbeat, but Phichit did ( _and he would tell the Japanese later in smug detail, though Yuuri wouldn't believe him and his interpretations about what his idol's actions might mean in the greater scheme of things_ ).

The guide through the online classroom's build wouldn't be a problem for Yuuri - he'd had to create a mock-classroom of his own in the first session of their e-tutoring class, after all, it wasn't as though he expected the professor's class to differ greatly from his own, particularly since his class' professor had explicitly told them that the structure would be mostly the same for most other classes in their uni.

"How soon do you need it? Would you like to go through it now?" Yuuri asked, although he could already tell by the slump in the other's posture that Victor was going to propose they do it on a different day.

"I'm sorry. I have to get up early tomorrow morning again, so would it be alright if we went through it tomorrow? We could have lunch together, again?" the Russian suggested.

Yuuri turned to Phichit, intending to ask the Thai if that would be alright, but before he could ask he received a thumbs-up gesture that he took as a 'go ahead'. Taking his attention back to Victor, he confirmed the arrangement, "Yeah, that would work. Phichit says it's okay for him, too."

The face on the other side of the screen broke out into a smile again and Yuuri wasn't sure what he'd done to get so many directed at him that day. They made his heart beat louder in his ears and kept his eyes glued to the screen.

To go from barely being recognised as something of a fan by Victor Nikiforov to so freely be given his attention and smiles was quite the transition, to be honest. It was a welcome change of pace and Yuuri found that he liked these smiles that he got via video call better than the one he'd received back in Sochi.

In return, he smiled back, feeling something settle in the centre of his very being. If that day had to be one where he was forcefully reminded of the GPF, of his multiple failures _~~and Vicchan~~_ , then at least he'd gotten glimpses of Victor's smiles that he could treasure and hold close to his heart, as well.

"Yuuri? What's wrong?" Huh? With an almost-silent gasp, he refocused his gaze on the screen in front of him. Victor was looking at the screen, his eyebrows having scrunched together a little in obvious worry. But why was he-?

Then he became aware of the tears that were running down his cheeks, big fat drops accumulating at his chin.

Phichit had chosen that moment to interrupt his training and come over, sitting down in the chair right besides Yuuri and running a hand over his back in comforting circles.

He wasn't- he didn't- he hadn't meant to cry.

Yet now that he was doing it, he found that he couldn't stop the tears from coming.

Putting a hand over his mouth, he closed his eyes, his face crumpling up for no reason at all.

Sobbing into his hand and hugging himself with the other, he could faintly hear Phichit saying something to Victor, having moved the laptop to him and cutting off anything more that the living legend was about to say in order to tersely say goodbye and cut the connection in his stead, before he moved Yuuri into his arms and let him cry into his shoulder.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For a story that I literally wrote IN my internet browser on AO3 on the spur of a moment after reading that the "zoommates" tag didn't have any works to its name and having long since been dared to write a romance, it's gotten longer than I imagined it would be. O_ó Where'd all the content come from, I wonder?
> 
> Hope you liked this latest installment, dear readers! :) Don't hesitate to leave a comment if you feel like it~


	6. Troubleshooting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri is very aware of having confused the heck out of his figure skating role model and would love nothing more than to go into his blanket fort nest and never come out. Phichit is being himself. Hamster cameo ahead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you're still enjoying this story despite the last chapter's downturn in terms of mood and ambiance... I'm on track with raising spirits again with this one, I feel. ;)  
> Have fun reading~!

Oh, he'd made a right fool out of himself, hadn't he? That hadn't been professional at all and now Yuuri couldn't bring himself to get out of the blanket fort he'd made himself and look at any emails he may have gotten. For he was sure he'd glimpsed one from Victor when he'd had his mobile in hand to put it on silent for the time being.

Mortified with himself, he didn't even want to think what it may have looked like for Victor. He hadn't ever wanted to start crying in front of his idol, of all people!

Yuuri didn't want to know what the impression that the older skater may have gotten of him now that he'd unintentionally bared his heart that much was. Had he honestly needed to begin bawling his eyes out right when they'd been about to say goodbye? Was there a worst impression to leave in the history of humanity?

Phichit was the bestest friend ever, he'd decided, when the Thai had gone and finished the connection before hugging him.

Now that the other skater had briefly left him alone to wallow in his misery, he felt the whole impact of what he'd done hit him all at once.

He'd offered his help and immediate availability when he'd known he wasn't in the right headspace for any of that happening. Great, now he was angry at himself. What on earth was wrong with him?

Frowning at where his thoughts had led him, he got up, determined to get himself out of whatever this most recent funk was, and went to his room. There he wasted no time in pulling his laptop into his lap, sitting down on his bed with one goal in mind.

When he'd been younger, it had always helped him, so why wouldn't it now? With that thought running through him, he didn't hesitate to type into the search what he wanted to see.

Clicking onto the first video that popped up - of course it was at the top of the search findings, where else would it be? -, he enlarged and rushed to pause it, setting the laptop onto the table again as he cleared himself enough space to move around in without making several books or other things fall down on him by accident.

Once Yuuri was ready, he pressed play and got into place, having long since memorized that particular video's pauses and knowing exactly when the music would start to play.

In his mind, he counted down: three-two-one.

The first notes that started were slow, rising up slightly and raising his spirits already as he moved in tandem to them, lifting his head in the mimicry of a familiar routine.

A hand was raised above his head, brought over his hair and he lost himself in the sequence that he followed ever since he'd begun practising this program. Dry practise wasn't the same, but it was better than nothing.

"Sento una voce" the lyrics washed over his frame, his body moving in the rhythm of the aria, "che piange lontano"

The language had long become a source of comfort to him, the words flowing along marvellously and he imagined floating over the ice like Victor did in the video, his hands and arms speaking louder than words ever could.

"Anche tu, sei stato forse abbandonato" His jump only had one rotation to it, but that was more because it was done out of caution for his surroundings there, in that tiny room of his, where the space available to him was not much larger than his bed's lenth and width, than out of lack of skill.

"Orsù finisco presto questo calice di vino" he hadn't yet looked up what the lyrics said. Funny, that, although he felt he didn't really need to. Victor's performance said it all, didn't it, to the skilled observer?

"e inizio a prepararmi" another jump, this time he'd turned around himself just once, again, so as not to run into any of his room's furniture accidentally.

"adesso fa silenzio" This time, the jump he made didn't have any rotations to it at all, but that only made the energy within his body build up more in anticipation of the next one. Moving his hands and arms in time with the little version of his idol on the laptop screen, he projected a calm and peace he had managed to grasp the edges of. Finally, he wasn't at odds with himself and could distract himself from anything else.

"Con una spada vorrei tagliare..." Real life could take a break to let him breathe for a moment, he decided, as he turned on his axis a few times, the lyrics pushed far into the background of his mind where he remained only barely aware of the melody changing. This point in time, he reserved it for himself and the legendary figure skater in that video. Nothing else mattered, nothing else could come close to mattering. Eyes closed, his breathing evened out, even when his body was tight and tense in preparation for the next sequence.

Victor had, albeit he didn't know it, shown Yuuri how to tell a story with his figure skating alone years ago already. Both of them knew exactly how to move their hands, which motions could express what emotion, where to put his head and how to move his eyes in order to let the world know what tale they wanted to tell.

This particular song's tale wasn't a new one. Longing, love, Sehnsucht were all topics that Yuuri knew by heart: he'd lived them when he'd moved to Detroit, his family never far from his thoughts and their support and love withstanding time and space for him.

In his mind's eye, he could picture clearly the katsudon he would be greeted with upon his arrival back home for the first time in what was by now five years' time. The "okaeri!" his mother would happily say to him, Minako-senpai's scolding of him having neglected his training too much, his father's understanding voice in the background and his sister's unyielding quiet support of whatever he ever set out to do.

Yuuri was missing them all, with every fibre of his body and he put the desire of seeing them again into his body's movements - still paying close attention not to topple anything over in his room and still with a bit of an awareness spread towards his immediate surroundings, but lost in the dance, all the same.

"Se potessi vederti"

The katsudon would taste divine after such a long absence from it in his life. No food in Detroit or anywhere else in the world could ever match up to his mother's cooking.

"Dalla speranza nascerà"

"l'eternità"

He wished he could be closer to Japan, _closer to his family, ~~closer to Vicchan~~_...

"Stammi vicino" Tears made their way down his cheeks anew, "non te ne andare"

"Ho" he didn't want to not be there again,

"paura di pederti"

"le tue mani, le tue gambe, le mie mani, le mie gambe" the moves had been ingrained in his very being by now, it seemed, his body almost moving on its own accord

"e i battiti del cuore, si fondono tra loro"

The end was fast-approaching, but he didn't want it to end, wanted the music to go on forever and ever and ~~_would have wanted for Vicchan to stay and be alive so he could see him one last time_~~ and a jump and then the music rose one last time and another jump there and the hands lifted up in heightened longing, moving this way and that and a circle there and one. last. jump. and -

"Andiamo insieme" a jump combination, actually, so Yuuri mirrored it as best he could, "ora" his head became empty, void of feeling, "sono" only his longing for his home, his family back in Japan remained, a desire to see them, and soon, please, "pronto" the last of the song came from the speakers, them almost amplifying the rest of the notes, before it finally, expectedly, came to an end.

Clapping sounded from the door and brought him out of the daze he'd fallen into. Breaking the end pose and swiftly turning towards it, he saw Phichit had snuck in to see what he'd been up to in the meantime.

The Thai had had to help a professor with an urgent problem, and thus not been able to stay for long hugging the sadness out of Yuuri, so he'd pushed him over to the usual blanket fort nest-related space and dumped a few blankets and cushions on him while he'd gone to deal with it.

Ostensibly, he was done helping the professor by now. As his best friend, he was used to Yuuri teaching himself some of Victor's routines in secrecy, and he didn't bat an eye when he remarked, "That looked awesome, Yuuri! I can't wait to see how it'll look once you perform it on the ice!"

Bringing a finger to his mouth, he mused, more to himself than to Yuuri, "Huh, should I have recorded it, this time?" to which the Japanese widened his eyes comically and raised his hands to ward off any more ideas that the Thai could get into his head, "No! Absolutely not!!!"

Chuckling, Phichit relented. "Calm down, I was just kidding. What would you like for dinner, Yuuri?"

Putting a hand over his suddenly-racing heart, he considered their options. "Don't we have some noodles that we ought to clear out?" He went over to the doorway, where Phichit gave him the hamster that had been hanging out on his shoulder - he'd had one hand always cupped right underneath it, were it to accidentally fall off - to cradle and turned on his spot to head towards the kitchen.

Stroking with a finger carefully over the hamster's fur, Yuuri smiled a quiet, content smile and regarded it fondly. Everything wasn't alright yet, in his world. He still missed Vicchan and he still missed his family and friends and his home back in Japan, but he'd managed to dull the ache a bit and that was all that counted.

For the moment, he could be himself again, and the grief and mourning he was dealing with could even integrated into his life, in small bits and pieces.

All this was thanks to Victor.

The figure skater really ought to thank his idol, he mused to himself. Huffing out a laugh, he thought about how out of his depth Victor had looked when he'd all of a sudden started crying at the end of their talk - oh, he needed to talk to Victor about that, didn't he? The look honestly had been a bit comical, but what had he expected? It wasn't every day that your assigned tutor began to bawl his eyes out at the end of a video call...

That would come back to bite him later, wouldn't it? Yuuri could already hear his anxiety rear its head, yet for the time being it was muted, relegated to a watching role only, with no powers to affect him much, as he was still riding on the high that the music and dancing to that routine had given him.

It wouldn't last long, it never did, but for now it would be enough. As long as it got him through the evening without resorting to moping and sitting under an enormous amount of blankets in a spot on the floor, he'd be fine.

The hamster was content with sitting there, safely ensconced in the hollow of his hand. Ah, that was Mr. Puffles, wasn't it? That one had never been too fidgety, when they picked him up. On the floor, on his own? He was the most curious being to ever grace the Earth. The easiest solution to him not getting into anything he shouldn't, they'd figured out quickly, was to simply pick him up. Fortunately, hamsters weren't all that active during the day, anyways.

Yuuri wanted to profit off of the good mood he'd gotten into while he was in it, so he made his way to his laptop to compose an email before he could reconsider his actions, putting Mr. Puffers into his lap for the time being.

"Victor,

I'm sorry for the trouble at the end of our call. Tomorrow's lunch is fine by me.

Yuuri."

Once he'd finished writing it, he read through it once and hit "send" without leaving himself a moment to reconsider. If he'd done that, he was certain he would have deleted it on the spot.

Logging out of his email account, he folded his laptop into half so it'd shut down on its own and picked up Mr. Puffers with both hands. Leaving his room, Yuuri headed to Phichit's room first to set down the hamster into his cage. Then he ambled over to where Phichit was already boiling the water, handing him the noodles that the Thai had gotten out of a cabinet and opening another to grab them some plates. Setting them down on their table, he opened the drawer to pick out some cutlery. The comfortable atmosphere was only broken by the blubbering of the water as it softened the noodles.

His anxiety could wait, they had to prepare dinner, for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No hamster was harmed in the production of this chapter. In addition to that, I'd like to admit that I have no idea about hamster behaviour, so please allow me some leeway on that front, yah? XD This is a fanfic of an anime, if you want to have hamsters please refer to officially accepted sources and do your research, pretty please?
> 
> Real life interferes in the worst instances, doesn't it? Had a huge headache-day on Sunday and then I was busy with work and study-related stuff on Monday... ah well. At least I managed to write moar for this chapter in-between... ;D  
> Helped that I did the zero comment challenge (see [this link](https://ao3commentoftheday.tumblr.com/post/182313869086/the-zero-comment-challenge-is-a-way-for-readers-to) for more on that: ) in the meantime - comment writing did act as a bit of a catalyst for my creativity :)
> 
> Also: this story is barely over a week old and it's already got 60 kudos? O_o  
> You, my dear readers, keep blowing me away with your feedback!!! Thank you very much to all you fabulous commenters out there, as well!!!! =^_^= can't help but be happy that this story resonates with so many people, apparently, and that you all seem to like it, too! Thank you very much for reading~
> 
> Tell me what you think about this chapter, if you're in the mood for it? :)


	7. Vision

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phichit proceeds to be helpfulTM, Yuuri calls his family and goes shopping.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter just wouldn't. Be. Written. XD  
> A writer's struggle is REAL, folks. And it seems to have me in its grip, again. Ah well. *sigh* Happens.  
> I've thrown in a freebie, on top of this update, to make up for it? ;) See the end notes for more info on that.
> 
> Short caveat: I have NO IDEA WHATSOEVER how Japan is currently reacting to COVID-19 and what measures are in place for, say, onsen/hot spring hotels or anything the like. Thus, I'm improvising and superimposing other countries' measures.

The content air surrounded him still when after their meal, Phichit and he enjoyed their tea together.

His friend being who he was, however, Yuuri knew the comfortable silence that had spread between them wouldn't last long.

"Soooooo..." his eyes glanced over at the Japanese furtively, trying to judge what he could chance asking, "What about Victor? Did you decide if you want to talk to him tomorrow yet?"

A sharp nod was his answer. "I've written him an email already."

Phichit brightened up considerably at that, "YES! I knew it! Nice going, Yuuri!"

His cheering only served to make Yuuri hunch in on himself a little and a slight blush dusted his cheeks. Looking to the left at where he'd abandoned his blankets and cushions earlier that day, he murmured, almost to himself, "It's not gonna be anything special, we're just gonna have lunch again, just like last time, you know?"

Phichit's enthusiasm couldn't be stopped, though he did look the tiniest smidge apologetic as he said, "Weeeell. Seeing as I'm going to have a call scheduled with one of our profs at around noon, that'll make this an official date, don't you think?"

Yuuri spluttered, eyes wide and frantically directed at his best friend.

What did he mean, he had a call scheduled? Did he not think of Yuuri's heartrate at all?

The Japanese skater's shoulders rose in nervousness and anticipation of what this would potentially mean for him and his video call with Victor figure skating legend Nikiforov, his body tense.

The Thai steamrolled any response he could give, cheerfully declaring, "No trouble, Yuuri, I know you can do this! Besides, I'll only be in the next room over, anyways." With a grin, he proceeded to ask, "Ah, by the way, could you go shopping tomorrow morning? We're out of noodles now and I'll have to set up everything the prof will need on my end of the call before we hold it...?"

A perfunctory nod was all that Yuuri could manage.

Yeah, he'd go shopping in the morning. He hadn't gone shopping in a week now, hadn't he? It was only fair to Phichit, even if he psyched himself up more than the Thai at going outside of their home and leaving the comfort of a non-infected environment behind. They had to get groceries sometimes and Phichit had gone to do the deed most of the time so far. Yuuri could do this.

Worse, to his mind, at least, was what the call with Victor would bring, without Phichit there to mitigate it. He'd been okay the first time because, looking back at, he hadn't even believed it to be real and happening at all, had he? Yuuri's reassurances and reassuredness back then had all stemmed from the feeling of it being half-a-dream and the fact that most of it was on the topics that he knew and could answer questions about. ( _Not that he had had to answer all that many on his class' topics to begin with, when Victor hadn't even gotten the first email he'd been supposed to have; and the questions about cooking had been easy to reply to, as well, considering the two roommates' obsession with the subject_ )

In light of the nigh-zero-reaction, Phichit's features softened. Fondly, he said, "Yuuri? You'll be just fine." The younger of the two stood up from his seat, picked up his tea cup and went to Yuuri, putting a hand on his shoulder to comfort him.

Getting an idea, he suggested, "You could call your family? I'm sure they'd love to hear from you again and it's right about eight o'clock in Japan by now, isn't it?" he removed the hand and added, "I'm gonna go call mine now, too. See you later, Yuuri?" He waited for another nod, before heading off to his room, depositing the empty tea cup in the sink.

Alone, Yuuri reflected on how this had become his life these days.

Taking his time, he drained the cup, washing Phichit's and his by hand and putting them on the rack to dry.

How long had it been, since he'd last called his family? About a week had passed since the last time, hadn't it?

Gingerly, he made his way towards his room, the emotions still roiling around in his stomach where they'd settled once Phichit's bombshells had had time to be processed.

He'd talk to Victor alone, would he? And he'd need to go shopping before, otherwise there wouldn't be anything to eat for them at home.

Clutching his phone, his feet carried him through his room on autopilot.

His fingers found the familiar Japanese kanji of his mother's name on his phone without delay and he sat down on the bed as he waited for the call to connect.

"Yuuri! It's been a while!" his mother greeted him, her voice rolling over him and settling him further, reminding him of home as it had done ever since he'd moved to Detroit.

"Okaa-san. I've missed you." a smile curved his mouth upwards. A quick check of the clock on his bedside table and a calculation in his head later, he added, "It's nine am back home now, isn't it? Am I interrupting you?"

"No, no, not at all! I've been cleaning the kitchen." his mother's happy aura transferred itself onto Yuuri, his smile growing genuinely warm and soft at the edges. Briefly, he wondered what Victor's mother was like; nothing about his parents had been in the papers and, to be honest, Yuuri hadn't paid as much attention to Victor's parents or family as he'd done to other aspects of his idol's life, as was evident by the mere existence of Vicchan in his own life. ~~He missed his dog.~~

"How are you doing, Yuuri? Are you eating well?" Successful at derailing Yuuri's train of thought, his mother's questions were habitually centered around what he was becoming aware of was an increasingly apparent theme in his life.

With a grin, he answered an affirmative, putting his mother at ease. They'd been worried about the current world events, as well, back home in Hasetsu, but fortunately, it hadn't - as far as Yuuri could discern, at least - spread to his hometown yet. With the emergency situation, the inn his parents were running was closed for the time being, no guests staying with the three of them at the moment. His sister had dutifully shown him how empty the rooms were, none of them occupied.

The money he'd kept sending back to them from his winnings and earnings as a professional figure skater so far helped keep them afloat, for now. Fortunately, his parents had scrunged together an emergency fund in the time business had been going well. That would tide them over until the crisis was averted.

His mother's chatter updated him on the goings-on with the rest of his family. His sister was holding remedial English lessons for anyone who needed those and that was apparently working out for her, these days. Anything was a welcome distraction, Yuuri supposed. At least all of them were healthy.

"... and I've greeted Vicchan for you. I know he'd be worried, otherwise." his mother carefully inserted into the conversation, pausing thereafter to let Yuuri appreciate and comment on it. She knew him too well, sometimes.

With a sad smile, Yuuri admitted, "I still think of him, every now and again. Thank you, okaa-san."

"It wasn't any trouble." Her smile could be heard in her voice. Perking up a little bit, she went on to say, "Oh, it's already this late? I'm sorry for keeping you up - I'm sure you'll have to get up early tomorrow, again?"

"Ah. It's okay. But I won't keep you on the phone too long, either, okaa-san. Oyasumi~" her answering "Oyasumi" bidding him a goodnight was welcome in its familiarity. With a click, the call ended.

Wrapping comfortingly around him, it was this phone call and the last vestiges of the dancing from earlier that made him fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow for once.

* * *

The next morning dawned earlier than usual, although Yuuri felt much better, getting up without needing an alarm for once. What surprised him was that he was up before Phichit - that rarely happened, for he could swear the Thai had had to have eaten some sort of weird mushroom as a child that made him into one of those strange morning persons.

Normally, Yuuri was bleary-eyed and shuffling towards the coffee machine first thing, disregarding anything else. This time, he was far more awake and could feel an unexpected, albeit not unwelcome, energy thrumming through him.

He'd talk to Victor soon.

That thought stopped him in his tracks shortly, before he moved on. The Japanese would have to go shopping, first, he remembered. Phichit would be in a call with his professor at around noon, so that didn't leave him a lot of time to ask the Thai if he had anything to add, any tipps on how to guide people through the online class best or some such information.

Biting his lip, he glanced over at the closed door to Phichit's room. No, he wouldn't wake him up if he didn't have anything pressing to ask, he decided with a shake of the head. Resolving to ask anything that came to mind before his call with the Russian figure skater, he made a beeline for the door, picking up his jacket on the way, slipping on his shoes and putting on one of his very own mouth masks which his mother had put into his suitcase back when he'd moved to Detroit.

It had never seen this much usage before, but these days it was better to be safe than sorry.

The corner shop had rarely before inspired jitteryness in him, yet nowadays it practically did so every time he had to venture there. Before heading into the shop, he disinfected his hands with the provided sanitizer at the entrance, staying a safe distance away from other shoppers where he could. Shopping list in one pocket, he quickly made his way through, gathering everything he needed and going towards the checkout area.

Laying his card onto the terminal to pay had never felt as freeing as it was right then. Happy to escape the stifling atmosphere inside the tiny shop, he exited it fast.

Over now, his heartrate normalized. It was ridiculous. Shopping for groceries had never been this... exhausting before. Clothes shopping, yes. But buying everyday stuff? He could only shake his head at the nervousness it inspired in him, these days.

Just one more thing to add to the growing list of things he would be glad they were over with after all of this ended.

Entering their flat once more, Yuuri saw that Phichit sat on one of their chairs, munching on a piece of toast while scrolling through his phone, most probably the newsfeed, if Yuuri judged the frown on his face correctly. "I'm back!" he greeted, long since having resigned himself to sticking to his habit brought over from Japan. Phichit's response of "Welcome back!" didn't help, though it certainly brought a little bit of Japan to their flat every day.

( _In the first year, it had dulled the homesickness he'd felt immensely and he couldn't be more grateful to the Thai for keeping that custom up and going_ )

Once the groceries were put away, he sat down on the other chair. Together, they ate their breakfast in companiable silence - Yuuri hadn't eaten yet, after all, he'd only had a coffee so far.

Then, Phichit excused himself to his room. "Emails." he'd said, and Yuuri had inferred from the tone of voice alone that he'd be occupied for the better part of the day answering every single one of them. Most were probably from his family and friends back in Thailand, Yuuri mused to himself, once he was alone.

Contrary to Yuuri, Phichit had had a well-connected life he'd left behind in his home country, with friendships galore and an extended family - cousins and aunts and uncles - that kept in touch as much as Yuuri's own family did.

As much as they clicked as best friends, they were night and day when it came to personality and outgoingness. Yuuri was just glad he wasn't as busy as Phichit seemed to be most of the time.

Pouring himself a cup of tea from the water they'd heated up, he made his way into his own room to prepare for the "lunch date". If it was anything like last time, Victor would come online by eleven o'clock already and it wouldn't do to not be prepared if that was the case.

Some last-minute things later, he was as ready as he could be, nerves and all, and sitting with yet another cup of tea ( _"Chamomile tea, Yuuri. It's calming." he could hear his mother's voice in his ears_ ) at the kitchen table. Everything he'd need for lunch was prepared on the counter and the laptop was up and running on their kitchen table in front of him, the program open and anticipating the connection being established any minute now.

His patience was rewarded when indeed, not even five minutes later, a by-now-familiar window popped up, alerting him to an incoming call. With slightly trembling fingers, he accepted it, not knowing what it would bring but ready to talk to Victor about the day before and his uncalled-for reaction a propos of nothing that the Russian had done.

The call connected and "Yuuri!" a heart-shaped smile greeted him from the screen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote an Easter Story!!! Set in the Yuuri!!! On Ice Fandom, you can find it in all its glory (and with its unpronounceable title) here: [от надежды родится вечность](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23594638).
> 
> In addition to that, I've finally managed to (somewhat) plot/plan out this monster of a slowburn romance XD so, nope, it won't be done anytime soon.  
> To be more exact: I have figured out that it'll most probably end up having around 100k words by the end (yeah, we're only a bit over a tenth through by now?) and will take me the better part of the year to finish, most probably.  
> This being a very much unpaid leisure activity of mine, I am going to need to concentrate on more important things again by tomorrow ^_^' so expect bigger pauses in-between updates from now on.
> 
> I'm sorry, dear readers? *bows* Thank you for your patience and I hope you are enjoying the story despite it taking a long while to be finished, yet!
> 
> Along with my WIPs from other fandoms, I'll update this one irregularly and with long breaks in-between chapter updates, starting tomorrow, and am very sorry that I can't reliably give you dates as to when it will be updated next.
> 
> Thank you very much for reading - and I hope you enjoy my writing regardless of this minor inconvenience.  
> 
> 
>   
> (Victor & Maccachin say "Thank you for all the love, dear readers!")  
> 
> 
> To recap:  
> Updates will happen and soon, most probably. I just wanted to relieve some of the pressure I've been feeling when it comes to this story's updates.  
> This story will be finished (and all of it up on AO3) by the end of this year, at the latest, all stars aligning.
> 
> Happy Easter, y'all~!


	8. Synergy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri and Victor talk.  
> (Not everything about which they talk is fun, but it's a good talk.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yesssssssss love this! :D I had fun writing this, hope you'll like it!
> 
> You may want to prepare some tea or hot chocolate or some other warm beverage before reading this, dear readers :) It's quite important to remain hydrated, these days~ and what better for a Saturday than a favourite, warming drink between your hands?

"Yuuri!" he'd called out, a heart-shaped smile ready on the legendary figure skater's face. It didn't last long, though, before it turned contemplative and he put a finger to his mouth, slightly tilting it to the side.

"Hello, Victor." Yuuri said in reply.

Victor didn't lose his smile at all, not even when he left the silence to stretch, apparently patiently waiting for Yuuri to formulate a more coherent thought and figure out how to start explaining his outburst at the end of their last call. Frustrated at his inability to verbalise his thought pattern on the spot ( _he really should have prepared for this, what would Victor think of him now and oh, hello anxiety levels rising_ ), he tensed up, sensing it literally blocking his speech for a moment.

"I..." he couldn't find a way to go on, emotions churning in his stomach to form a knot, a hindrance he couldn't get over all by himself and he was useless he couldn't even manage to start a conversation by himself and where was Phichit when Yuuri needed him-

"Are you okay?" Victor preempted anything he could say, his calm voice reverbating around the room and bringing his thought process to an unexpected halt. Surprised, Yuuri felt the tenseness recede a bit.

"I'm... I'm sorry." the Japanese looked at his lap. "For crying last time." Good. The words were coming back to him.

"That's- it wasn't in response to anything I said, was it?" looking up, Yuuri could make out Victor scrunching his eyebrows together in obvious concern, but they hadn't talked about anything that could have brought forth such a reaction and Yuuri immediately shook his head in a negative.

"No, it wasn't. I- I was just..." even thinking about putting into words the way he'd felt when he'd remembered his dog's death was hard.

When he fell quiet again, it was Victor who picked up the thread of conversation. "It's nothing you need to apologise for."

Yuuri's eyes riveted to the platinum-haired Russian who was by then sporting an understanding smile and continued by saying, "Crying isn't something you can or should control. Well, at least it wasn't too professional a meeting and I'm not a paparazzi. You were thinking about something sad, weren't you?"

Helpless in the face of such an analysis of their call, he could only nod. "I was thinking about... my dog. He died, last December."

The Russian's face transformed into one of first surprise, then shock - and was that understanding? - before he exclaimed, "Oh, right! His name was Vicchan, right?" Yuuri almost couldn't keep up with the expressions on Victor's face, they changed so fast into one of... genuine regret? "I'm so sorry for your loss."

... and "How do you know Vicchan's name?" he blurted out before he could stop himself, both hands going to his mouth in the next moment to keep it from saying anything more. With the bombshells that had been dropped on him so far, it was a wonder Yuuri could keep up with the conversation at all.

While he was incredibly flattered that Victor - his idol! - of all people knew his dog's name, he was sure he'd never once dropped his name or said anything about Vicchan to other figure skaters, barring his coach and Phichit. Where could he have found out that name from...?

"It was mentioned in an article I read from last year." the other skater waved his question off as if it weighed nothing, in the grand scheme of things.

Legendary figure skater Victor Nikiforov read... articles? about Yuuri? Since when? Eyes wide, the Japanese was reduced to gaping at the platinum-haired mystery in front of him.

Was this the same figure skater who regularly forgot the names of his competition - and yes, Yuuri had read (and _re-read_ , particularly after Sochi) all about this particular character trait of his, although it had smarted when he'd realised it had extended to not even recognising their faces _after competing against them on the ice_.

"I'm sorry, I should have realised. Were it me, I'd be hung up about that for far longer than a few months." With a curious look at him, Victor went on, "Your dog's death was the reason you bombed the free skate at the Grand Prix Final, wasn't it?"

What... was that Victor's infamous bluntness rearing its head? Yuuri felt as though he should be offended but all he could think of was that Victor was right. He'd bombed the final competition back then and then gone on to fail at all the others up until the virus had (fortunately?) managed to have the season cancelled all of a sudden.

His breath stuttering, he didn't know how to reply. Yuuri thought his face and the horror on it had to be expressive enough already, even for a blind man to see.

And oh, all of that just brought Vicchan's death and the black hole he'd been left with ever since back with a vengeance.

Feeling his body grow heavy with grief again, he refused to cave and cry yet another time when he was _on a video call with Victor_. Blinking profusely, wetness clung to his eyes but didn't do much more than that. So far, so good.

The Japanese would get through this call without breaking down - he would! Pushing any and all the heavy, emotion-filled and rich memories of his dog to the back of his mind, he focused on the conversation and nodded once, sharply.

Lifting his right hand to his neck to rub at the side of it, he turned his eyes to the left and concentrated on getting out what he wanted to say.

"Yes, that... I didn't do well at all back then, because of that." Good, stick to easy words and pronouns. If nothing explicit was mentioned, he'd stay clear of the tears.

Glancing back up at the screen through his lashes, he ventured on to say, "Victor, I-" and was rudely interrupted by a sudden ruckus coming from the other's appartment. Shortly after, a fluffy head came into view on the lower right hand corner of the monitor.

Blinking twice, Yuuri thought for a moment that Vicchan had somehow been brought literally into their conversation to share it with them and an image of his beloved dog overlapped the fur of the other for but a second before he recognised the dog.

"Makkachin! No, you can't participate, now. Go over there! Yes. Good girl!" Once his surprise had worn off, Victor was commanding his dog around, making her stay out of the picture before he turned back to Yuuri, "Ah, I'm sorry. She's figured out how to turn the doorknob to the bedroom... she wasn't supposed to interfere" Victor directed a halfway amused glare at the spot where his dog was presumably resting after that reprimand, " _again_. She'll stay over there for the time being, but I'm afraid she will be bored before long. I hope it's not a bother if she stays for lunch?"

That was the moment when Yuuri realised that yes, they'd actually wanted to eat lunch and dinner together, hadn't they? His stomach grumbled in recognition the topic and he blinked, at ease once more. Shaking his head with a genuinely fond smile on his face, he reassured Victor, "It's not a bother at all. I'm going to prepare the noodles now, yes?"

Victor nodded, another heart-shaped smile making Yuuri's belly flip for no reason, none at all. Disregarding his weird reactions to Victor's smiles and presence, he made to prepare lunch, turning the monitor so that Victor could see him while he worked. When the Russian briefly excused himself to get his own meal, he nodded to signify he'd wait for the other to come back before starting.

While the noodles were boiling, he got out a sauce from the fridge. Humming under his breath, he didn't immediately notice the audience listening in, not, that was, until he was brought back to the present by an approving bark.

Turning around on the spot, he was faced with an excited poodle panting at the camera.

On an impulse, Yuuri said with a smile, "Hello, Makkachin! I'm Yuuri."

Bark.

"Nice to meet you, too!"

Bark bark, borf.

Conversations with animals were hilarious - Yuuri couldn't help himself and added, "I'm very well, thank you. How are you?"

Ba-ruff.

That had sounded a bit weird and when the Japanese hesitated to reply, Victor jumped in helpfully, coming back into view with a plate directly behind Makkachin, "Ah, I'm sorry Yuuri! That's Russian for 'I'm bored, mostly but the food is good!'" At that, the laughter that had threatened to get out finally broke free and Yuuri had to hold a hand to his stomach, he was laughing that hard.

Glancing up briefly, he could see that Victor was - while not laughing as hard as Yuuri was - most definitely amused and looking more and more entertained by the second. He was wrangling an incredibly uncooperative dog back aside so he could take a seat again on the chair to his table and that just made for more funny hand-waving and facial expressions that ranged from utterly charmed to exasperatedly irritated to fondly reprimanding.

Several moments passed, until finally, the laughter abated some.

By the time he calmed down, Victor had managed to sit down and got his dog to play with a toy outside of view. He was patiently waiting for Yuuri to get ready, too.

"Oh, no, if you're hungry, go ahead! The noodles will need a bit longer, I think." he glanced back worriedly. Yuuri didn't want to keep Victor waiting with what was obviously a steaming dish already.

"If you're sure...?" the platinum-haired skater asked. As soon as he got the okay via a nod from Yuuri, though, he exclaimed "Bon appetit!" and tucked in with gusto. Huh, the way he devoured the food made Yuuri think that the older man had to have been hungry already. Wait, hadn't that been French?

The man was a mystery and Yuuri couldn't help but be drawn into his pace - it felt comfortable, as though Yuuri could just... be himself. As though that was okay. And even welcome.

What were they doing?

Victor waited patiently until he'd finished eating, apparently not minding giving Makkachin some scratches and stroking through what Yuuri knew was very fine curly fur. ~~He missed Vicchan~~.

Once he'd put the plate and cutlery into the sink to be washed later, he returned to the laptop and spent a few seconds just regarding the scene in front of him: Victor had switched his entire attention onto the poodle and Makkachin just about ate it up, Yuuri could imagine the tail wagging at speeds unknown to mankind, his tongue lolling out of his mouth excitedly as he tugged at a plush bone, one end of which was in Victor's hands.

It was a sense of companionship that enveloped the two and Yuuri felt quite at home with being relegated to a secondary priority spot when he could sense how the dog's excitement warmed his own heart, miles and miles away across an ocean.

The tug-of-war went on for a bit, until Makkachin unexpectedly veered to the left, threatening to crash into the table and Victor let go to preemptively ward off an accidental bonk to the head.

Changing direction, Victor turned back to his screen and Yuuri hastened to say, "Uhm, shall we- I mean, the- the system, you had questions, right? About the learn management system?" before the Russian could call him out on his staring.

A smile was returned to him, along with "Ah, yes, that. Can we do that now?" The smile was taken over by a look of concentration on the figure skater's face, as he typed something into the laptop, ostensibly going to their uni's website and logging into the learn management system.

Fortunately, Yuuri had already done so on his side, so all he had to do was wait for Victor to catch up. When Victor looked up at him hopefully, Yuuri surmised that he was ready and immediately dived in, explaining the various parts to him in detail.

"What you can see immediately on the dashboard is the semester outline on the left. Can you see that?" Only when he got a confirming nod from Victor, did he go on, "On the right, there's the forum where the students can discuss about relevant topics and exchange learning tips." The Japanese went down on the page, saying, "In the middle space, there's the material the professor has put online for the students - they can access it and do the activities suggested by the professor in there at their leisure."

Rifling through the various files and looking at the general makeup of the course's website only told him that it was a simpler structure to get used to than the one he'd feared he'd be faced with. From Victor's email, he'd thought it was more complicated to guide him through it.

As it was, Yuuri ran out of things to explain about five minutes into the "guide-through". No, it wasn't exactly constructed like an average online class, but things were still fairly easy to find.

"... And that's that. Did you have questions about anything in particular?" he asked.

"How can I as a guest speaker add a new topic to the site?" Victor asked.

At that, Yuuri blinked. Didn't he have administrator rights? "Victor, if you look at the top of the website, what symbols do you see in the top right corner?"

The figure skater dutifully recited the symbols he could see to Yuuri and as soon as he recognised the one the other would need to click, he stopped him and pointed it out to him. "That's the one. Try clicking on it?"

"Wow!" Victor's face was really quite expressive, wasn't it? Shaking his head at his own thoughts - no need to get derailed, now -, Yuuri told him, "You should now see a new window overlapping the main one, correct?"

"Yes." Clearly, the other was momentarily engrossed in the possibilities that had opened up before him with that one click. Yuuri left him to it for a few minutes, smiling at the enthusiasm that now bled into the older man's every action.

"There should be a small gearwheel on the top left corner of every topic, do you see it?" A nod was his answer. "With that, you can change-" Ah, Victor was impatient, was he? Another trait to file away in Yuuri's ever-growing mental collection of what made Victor Victor. Seeing as Victor's face had lit up even more and he was quickly running through the assembly of settings he could change on the topic, Yuuri thought about what else he could mention to him about the website.

"In the settings, you can also change the visibility of your topic window." All at once, he had the undivided attention of the figure skating legend. "You can put it so that the students can't see what you added until a specific date or so they can only see it during a time period that you can decide on."

The Japanese continued, "This way, you can prepare materials whenever you want and give the students access to it at a much, much later date. That means you can change the material in the interim, if you want to, and it won't make a difference, because it's only you who can see it for the time being."

That was it, wasn't it? He'd done his part. And now... Victor could make his way through this alone, too, it wasn't as though he needed Yuuri to take his hand and guide him through any more.

Yuuri was sure that the older man had been a guest speaker before already, hadn't he? Surely, he'd know how to proceed from here. Their university was good at handing out pamphlets and information on what was expected of them, he was sure Victor had to have gotten the same treatment.

All in all, it seemed as if Yuuri wasn't really needed any more. Staring blankly into space for a moment, he wondered what would happen now.

Sucking in air, he opened his mouth to say something. Unfortunately, Victor had the same idea.

"I-"

"Yuuri,-"

Both broke off, fumbling for the blink of an eye. Yuuri waved Victor on to say his piece first, content to be the second person to speak, his cheeks warming.

"Yuuri, erm." Victor paused, "Would-", he stopped himself. A sigh, then "Would you like to exchange phone numbers with me?"

It felt like Yuuri's brain short-circuited. His mouth dropped open and he didn't know what to say at first.

Obviously, Victor took that as a cue that he didn't want to and rushed to say, "We don't have to, we can just exchange emails and do video calls if you'd like, I just thought... I mean it was rather nice to have something to look forward to and..."

Yuuri's mind had stopped working. Figure skating living legend Victor Nikiforov wanted to _exchange numbers **with him**_?

Snapping out of it at a distant but audible boof coming from the other's appartment, Yuuri proceeded to stumble over his words, "That's- I- I mean, yes, I- It's- sure." he settled on and repeated it, "Sure."

Mechanically, he brought up his email program, typed his into a new email and sent it to Victor.

 _Victor Nikiforov now had his number_.

 _And he was looking forward to their video calls_.

"Ah, thank you! I just got your email." The heart-shaped smile was back.

One earth-shattering realisation at once, Yuuri didn't feel up to handling more than one for the time being. Victor Nikiforov now had his phone number. And, judging by the ping that came from where his mobile once more rested atop his bed in his bedroom, he now most probably had Victor's as well.

His heart did an excited flip. His fingers itched to find out if that was indeed what he supposed it had been - _a message from Victor on his phone, a message from **Victor**_ \- but he restrained himself.

"Shall we have another lunch rendez-vous the day after tomorrow? I'm sorry, but tomorrow I'm unfortunately already busy around this time..." an apologetic face greeted him from the screen.

All Yuuri could manage at the moment was nod once, almost absent-mindedly, what with ongoing brainfreeze.

"Well." the almost regretful look turned into a genuine little smile, especially as Makkachin joined him. Yuuri's heart thawed, as did his brain, at the impromptu goodbye from the overexcited poodle. "Thinks she is half a year old - oof, Makka, not onto my lap, we **_talked_ **about that! - when it's more like she's _big_ and _grown_ now and _should know better_." the admonishing look was undermined by the fond exasperation in his tone.

Yuuri grinned. He could clearly remember another poodle clambering all over him whenever he wanted and not when Yuuri was actually free and in the mood to play with him. The pang that accompanied the memory was softened, somehow, when he took another look at the duo beyond the screen.

"See you the day after tomorrow, then, Victor." the Japanese said, somehow with an even voice, nothing betraying the turmoil of emotions he'd gone through during the course of the talk.

"See you then, Yuuri!" Victor waved goodbye with a hand and with one of Makkachin's paws who patiently let the human manhandle him, probably thinking it another sort of game. Really, it was calming to look at the two of them. Then the little window turned black, signalling the end of their call and Yuuri folded the laptop to carry it to his bedroom.

There, he let himself fall onto his bed, utterly spent.

Remembering, he quickly snatched up his phone to look at the screen.

"Yuuri! Hi! This is Victor" blinked at him. He sent a "Hi Victor" back, before switching it off and pushing his head into his cushion.

This had been one rollercoaster of a talk, but Yuuri was happy it had gone the way it had, nonetheless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, seeing as this story won't let go of me, I've worked out a doable schedule for posting - I'll try to stick to updating this story about once a week, dear readers, until it's out in all its glory and friendship and slowburn fluff! :D
> 
> Also, with this chapter I've written 25k words in April alone, reaching my Camp Nano goal!!! Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssss!!!
> 
> Thank you very much for reading~ should you be in the mood and have time for it, leave a comment?
> 
> Cheers!


	9. Inspiration

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri is amazed about the latest developments, Phichit grills him for the details and the two of them enjoy a day off. :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaah, this one took a while... ^_^'
> 
> Enjoy, dear readers!

The afternoon passed in a whirl of emotion, with Yuuri mentally re-working his way through the conversation and continuously going over the fact that he was now in possession of _Victor Nikiforov's phone number!_ The Japanese ice skater wondered what his younger self would have done, had he known that one day he'd be offered something like this. Go speechless and wide-eyed, most probably, for an indefinite amount of time.

At twenty-three, Yuuri doesn't know what to do about it, now that it was in his hands.

He kept going back to that first text exchange, too.

"Yuuri! Hi! This is Victor" hadn't changed in the few hours over the course of which he'd taken to checking the message multiple times.

His "Hi Victor" seemed lackluster in its simplicity. Should he have sent something else?

Victor hadn't sent him another message yet - that was, Yuuri presumed, because it was nighttime for the Russian and he was most probably asleep.

Yuuri wondered if he should be the one to initiate the conversation this time around?

No, that was too straightforward, wasn't it? He couldn't do that, he'd stress over every single letter he'd include in it and then delete it before he could hit the send button, most likely.

His musings were interrupted by his flatmate's cheerful voice. "Soooooo. How was it?" Phichit was side-eyeing Yuuri speculatively and he emerged from his room with a grin on his face.

"Ah, uhm. Our talk, ne? It was... nothing special?" With a look towards the ceiling asking for _help, please_ , Yuuri hedged the question.

"What did you talk about? Tell me! Tell me!" Phichit demanded of him excitedly, bouncing on the balls of his feet right in front of him.

Looking to the side, Yuuri said, "We, uh. Had lunch?" glancing up at the Thai in askance if that was enough, yet already knowing that no, it most decidedly wasn't enough in the eyes of the other skater.

"And then? Go on?" When he didn't come forth with more answers immediately, Phichit whined, "Come on, give me more than that!"

Huffing a laugh, Yuuri admitted, "Well, we did exchange phone numbers in the end..."

"YESSSS!" The other hit the air with a fist, then turned back to Yuuri, "Please tell me you wrote him already?" Were those stars in Phichit's eyes? They were uncomfortably close, in any case and Yuuri proceeded to simply put a hand on the Thai's shoulder and shove him a few feet away from him, amused at the other's excitement. It was contagious, to be honest and the Japanese soon found himself smiling fondly at his roommate.

"I did." He didn't need to know that it had only been one message so far. In Yuuri's eyes, it counted.

They looked at one another in silence for a few more moments, before Phichit's face fell in resigned acceptance, "You're not gonna tell me more, are you?" With a raised eyebrow, he regarded the Japanese exasperatedly.

Yuuri's mouth opened and closed a few more times, quietly, then Phichit shook his head and stated, "You don't have to, Yuuri." He smiled at Yuuri, cheerful once more. "I'm glad you had a nice talk."

And that was that.

Things were so easy, between them. It made Yuuri wonder if it could become this easy with Victor, after they'd gotten to know one another a bit better.

In the evening, Phichit dragged him over to his room for a live stream of a band consisting of fellow students at their university. That... was nice. It was fun, watching them perform a song from three different monitors that had been linked together. They were watching the four band members sit and play their various instruments from their own homes - two of them shared a room, so their viewers were left looking at three different backgrounds and the four members fighting for space in the video at first.

At the same time as the stream, they had a live chat going, where Yuuri and Phichit made sure to add a "Thank you" of theirs. It was interesting to see the chat going at speeds where reading any one thing was made practically impossible.

During the stream, the band made sure to tell their viewers multiple times that they'd go through the chat afterwards, though, so their message mightn't get drowned out by all the others.

In the meantime, they were dancing and wiggling along to the various songs performed by the band: they kept playing covers of internationally successful songs, too, so the two Asians felt the nostalgia of listening to an older song more than once. The band wasn't half bad, Yuuri had to admit, and he was certain he'd seen posters for some of their concerts being held in notable locations around Detroit earlier in the year.

Maybe after the quarantine was lifted, he'd get to go to one of their concerts. He was sure Phichit wouldn't mind tagging along.

Then, the Thai pulled Yuuri's attention towards an ongoing Easter Special that the band was doing: they put several pics of themselves online with Easter Eggs hidden in the background on Easter Sunday and set up a deadline for their fans to find them.

Yuuri blinked, bemused. Hadn't Easter been... a few weeks back? He did remember reading something about the holiday shortly after the quarantine began, but he wasn't sure of any specifics. Not one to be celebrating other religion's holidays, Phichit hadn't known any details about it, either.

So they were left looking through the images and counting eggs all throughout the evening. Apparently, the one who finds all of the hidden Easter eggs will win a prize. The deadline was the next day and Phichit wanted for them to at least make an attempt at it, even if it was done for fun.

"You've missed the one behind that guy's hair." Yuuri added his observations, his mind utterly distracted from thinking about anything Victor-related for once.

* * *

The next day dawned early, much too early, in Yuuri's opinion. Whoever had invented mornings ought to be banished to the farthest corners of the earth.

Then again, the one who'd invented coffee was a saint, the Japanese decreed, as the smell of it lured him out of his room. _Phichit_ was a saint, at least for the moment that he handed Yuuri his own cup. Enjoying the liquid in peace, the placid air is shattered by the Thai's next announcement.

"Erm, I know you did the shopping yesterday, but could you go there again today? We're out of sugar and milk and I wanted to bake cookies in the afternoon, but I need to work on the things the profs send me..."

Yuuri huffed, his anxiety rearing its head at the thought of venturing outside again. The last shopping trip was still fresh in his mind, the tension in the store, the shopkeeper's distanced goodbye... he'd rather not, to be honest. Yet Phichit was the one who'd constantly been on call for the professors' every need concerning issues to do with technology and Yuuri did admit that he'd been more than supportive, these last few days.

The Japanese could do it, he could go outside and get the sugar and the milk. With a nod, he acquiesced.

It wasn't as bad as his mind made it out to be, he kept reaffirming to himself. Going outside wouldn't hurt him - it might even be an alright experience. After all, he'd already done it before.

Getting ready after breakfast, he put on the mask and let his glasses come to a rest atop it. With an absent-minded "Itte kimasu!" he opened the door and went to the shop. It was a habit that he couldn't hope to shake which had crossed over from back home, telling anyone still at home that he was leaving the house. Just one more imported cultural thing that Phichit didn't mind him doing.

At the shop, everyone wore masks and some even tried to keep the distance that was marked down on the floors. There were more people than there was place in the store, though, and trying to pass some of them only resulted in him almost getting elbowed in the ribs for his efforts at evading one particularly zealous shopper trying to shop as fast as possible. Once he was outside the shop, he saw a lot of people without masks milling about.

Frowning slightly, Yuuri made his way back to their shared flat as fast as he could. The whole thing felt more dangerous than the day before, more unsafe.

Entering their flat again, he found Phichit already preparing lunch for the two of them, so they'd just have to reheat it later. Silently, Yuuri put the milk into the fridge and the sugar into its designated spot. With a quick smile at his roommate, the Thai went to his room once he was done.

Yuuri decided to make himself some tea, so he boiled the water.

Sitting down to a mug of his favourite tea, he enjoyed the peace.

That was, he did enjoy it until the mobile on the counter vibrating utterly destroyed the silence.

Looking up, Yuuri noted that it was Phichit's. Quickly, he got up from the chair - his tea could steam by itself for the few seconds it would take to bring the phone into Phichit's room - and grabbed it from the counter, glancing at the screen furtively once. With a start, he halted in his tracks, though, when he noticed just who it was on the other end.

Smiling, Yuuri picked up, "Coach Cialdini, hello! I'll hand you over to Phichit in a moment."

He had time on his hands now that he'd picked it up, so he ambled over, listening to his coach greet him back. Whenever Cialdini was calling one of the two, they'd long since established that the other was allowed to pick up in their stead. These days, the coach didn't even care to look whom of the two he had dialled the number for, knowing that the other wasn't far.

"Ciao ciao! Yuuri! How are you doing?" The ever-present enthusiasm that the coach was known for could be felt through the phone.

Yuuri kept smiling and knocked on Phichit's door before entering, making sure that the Thai wasn't doing anything with his headphones on at the moment, before he replied, "I'm alright, thank you. How are you?" He put the phone on speaker mode.

"Ah, same old, same old. The quarantine's getting on everybody's nerves." he imagined Cialdini shake his head at the complaint. "There's news for you the two of you, though! Are you with Phichit?"

"I am." Yuuri said at the same time as Phichit exclaimed, "Ciao Ciao, hello!"

The grin on their coach was there in his words, "Hello, Phichit! I've got great news for you two!"

They shared a look, before the Thai asked, "What is it, Ciao Ciao?"

"Two things, actually, but I'll start with the first one! You got fanmail!" Fanmail? While not unusual, their coach wasn't normally this cheerful at the tons of fanmail he sorted through for them both each week, before it landed in their hands.

"We did? Nice!" Phichit was the first to recover. "When will you send it over?"

"It's on its way already. That's the good news, and I won't spoil the surprise for ya. Now on to the _great_ news!" Surprise? Yuuri wasn't the only one anticipating what could possibly be in their fanmail this time around to make their coach draw the suspense out this much. Last time he'd done so, they'd been gifted with a hamster plushie and a poodle plushie each that they adored to this day.

"What is it, coach?" Yuuri was happy to let the Thai take over the conversation for them both.

And then Cialdini dropped the bombshell on them:

"You'll get to train again!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have fallen into the void that is the One Piece fandom. Again. XD whew, changing between my WIPs is such a tremendous change of pace sometimes... eh, that's entertaining for me, at least. :D
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> Leave a comment, if you're in the mood for it and have the time? :) Cheers!


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